Black pepper peas

Black pepper is the most famous and widely used spice.

Pepper is a fruit of the winding bushes.

Black pepper is sometimes called "Malabar pit" at the place of its natural habitat - Malabar Islands. In nature, the Bush wraps around trees, clambering up. Since then, as the pepper became a crop for him on the plantations set the staves, as for hops, and restrict its growth to a height of 4-5 meters, the Plant is Lisesi shrub, reaching a height of 15 meters, the Leaves have a length of 80-100 mm After flowering grow all the fruit, first green, then they become yellow or red.

The length of the brush 80-140 mm, it contains 20-30 kastanek. To get the black pepper, the fruit is harvested unripe green or slightly yellowish. During drying under the sun, they shrivel and blacken. The peppers ripen simultaneously, so the period of his collection is highly extended. If Mature fruits are harvested when they blushed and easily fall off from the bunch, they are white pepper. For this ripened fruits are soaked in water. After a few days the soft pericarp can easily be removed. Velomania Mature seeds without a pericarp less pungent than black pepper, but more flavorful, they are also used in writing and valued above black pepper.

Plants belonging to the genus peppers, pepper family, there are over a thousand species. However, as the spice is used only 5-6 species growing in South Asia. These peppers are black pepper, white pepper, pepper cubeb, long pepper, African pepper.

Black pepper is the dried unripe fruit of the same name tropical perennial shrub. Dried unripe fruits look like small peas black (hence the name black pepper) with a pleasant aroma. Black pepper comes from the Eastern coast of India, where it still grows as a wild plant of the jungle. Then he got into Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. In Africa and America - only in the XX century. Black pepper was the cause of the discovery of America and the occurrence of red pepper. In fact, because of him and other Indian spices were fitted out an expedition of Christopher Columbus.

In Sanskrit, black pepper is called Maric. This is one of the names of the sun, and black pepper got this name due to the large concentration of solar energy.

The Greek name "peperi", Latin "piper", English "pepper" and the Russian "pepper" - all come from the Sanskrit names of the pepper "pippali".

In India pepper was highly valued since ancient times and was one of the first Oriental spices, conquered Europe, from Ancient Greece and Rome. The pupil of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, Geomaster (372-287 BC), who is sometimes called the "father of botany", divided pepper in two types: black and long. With the Malabar coast of India pepper traveled the world both sea and land routes. Across the Persian Gulf, he was taken to Arabia, and through Krasnoe sea in Egypt. Later, in the year 40 A.D. to trade pepper joined the ships of the Roman Empire. Direct trade between Rome and India helped to resolve the Arab monopoly on all kinds of "spicy treasures". In the Roman Empire, the pepper has taken a strong place among the running of commercial goods. Friderik Rosengarten in his "Book of Spices" writes that during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius trading in pepper has reached such unprecedented proportions that in 176 BC the customs tax in Alexandria was levied mainly long or white pepper. Black pepper was not included in the tax file, perhaps the government did this because of political considerations, afraid to cause nedavolstva people. To prevent the plundering of Rome by the troops of the Gothic king and conqueror of Alorica in 408 ad, the Romans paid tribute to him, which, among other riches, consisted of 3,000 pounds of pepper.

Kosmas, Indicopleustes, merchant, who later became famous as a Holy monk and traveled through India and Ceylon, described in his book "Christian Topography" ways of growing, harvesting and cooking pepper inhabitants of Malabar Peninsula. Shortly after this, in the 1st century A.D. Indian colonists founded pepper plantations in Java. Marco Polo in his memoirs describes "pepper abundance" in Java. He mentions the Chinese vessels that go to sea, loaded each 6.000 baskets with pepper.

In the Middle ages pepper has occupied an important place in the cooking of Europe. It was used to give flavor and good taste raw and perishable food and, mainly, to drown out the nasty taste of meat.

Whole peas pepper then were very expensive and were accepted by the authorities as payment of taxes, taxes, debts, and also as a dowry. In 1180, during the reign of Henry II, in London launched the Guild of merchants of whole pepper, which was then renamed "the Guild of merchants of spices, and a century later was to be called "Company of Grocers", which is developed successfully to this day.

In the 13th century economic growth and wealth of Venice and Genoa, especially the latter, were achieved mainly due to the spice trade. The Portuguese and Spanish enviously watched unheard of enrichment. The fall of (1453) Constantinople and excessive taxes Muslim rulers on the spice trade has further intensified the need for their voyage to the East. European demand for spices, especially black pepper, and desire fabulously enriched were the main incentives of the expedition of Columbus and the voyage of Vasco de Gama. All this has allowed the Portuguese to possess a monopoly on the sale of spices, which they kept for over 100 years. After spending a few decisive battles with the Muslims, she got the coveted Malabar coast of India (1511),