Plus: the difference between black, white, green, and pink peppercorns, and how to make the most of it in the kitchen.
It’s sometimes hard to imagine how much of history focused on obtaining things that today seem quite ordinary. Walk into any restaurant, and you’ll see black pepper on every table. For millennia, this would have been viewed as a stunning display of wealth. Today, it is expected. How did this happen?
It’s a bit of a long story.
A Brief History
The recorded history of black pepper (Piper nigrum) goes back further than that of any other spice. Indigenous to southern India, pepper was already being praised in Vedic medical writings 4,000 years ago. However, though it would remain valued as medicine everywhere it went, it was flavor that turned pepper into an economic giant. Not only does it taste good, but the chemical that creates its flavor and heat, piperine, increases the sensory input of the foods it flavors. In other words, it actually makes foods taste better.
