Traditional medicine, phytochemicals, and research
"There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!". Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing — Alice in Wonderland (1865). Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper. Note the cook's pepper mill.
Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a traditional medicine. Pepper appears in the Buddhist Samaññaphala Sutta, chapter five, as one of the few medicines a monk is allowed to carry. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used. Black pepper (or perhaps long pepper) was believed to cure several illnesses, such as constipation, insomnia, oral abscesses, sunburn, and toothaches, among others.
