Black pepper/ja

Black pepper/ja
未熟なコショウの実を持つコショウ植物
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Piperales
Family:	Piperaceae
Genus:	Piper
Species:	nigrum
Binomial name
nigrum L.

黒胡椒（Piper nigrum）は、コショウ科の顕花植物であるつる植物で、通常乾燥させてスパイスや調味料として使用される果実（ペッパーコーン）のために栽培されます。この果実は直径約5mm（新鮮で完全に熟した状態）の濃い赤色の核果（石果）で、単一のコショウの種子を包む石を含んでいる。ペッパーコーンとそれらから作られる粉末コショウは、単に「ペッパー」と表現されることもあるが、より正確には「ブラックペッパー」（調理・乾燥させた未熟果）、「グリーンペッパー」（乾燥させた未熟果）、または「ホワイトペッパー」（熟した果実の種子）と区別される。

黒胡椒はインドのマラバール海岸が原産であり、マラバール胡椒はそこで、そして他の熱帯地域で広く栽培されている。挽いて乾燥させ、調理した胡椒の実（ペッパーコーン）は、古代から風味付けと伝統医学の両方に用いられてきた。黒胡椒は世界で最も取引されているスパイスであり、世界中の料理に加えられる最も一般的なスパイスの一つである。その辛味は化学物質であるピペリンによるもので、これはトウガラシに特徴的なカプサイシンとは異なる種類の辛味である。西洋世界では調味料として至る所で使われており、しばしば塩と組み合わせて、食卓にシェーカーやミルで置かれている。

語源

「pepper」という言葉は、古英語の「pipor」、ラテン語の「piper」、そしてGreek: πέπεριに由来する。ギリシャ語の語源は、おそらくドラヴィダ語の「pippali」（「ロングペッパー」の意）に由来すると考えられる。サンスクリット語の「pippali」も同じ意味を持つ。

16世紀には、「pepper」という言葉は、密接な関係のない新世界のトウガラシ（Capsicum属）を指すようにもなった。

品種==

黒、緑、白、そしてピンク（Schinus terebinthifolia）のペッパーコーンの4色ミックス

加工されたペッパーコーンには様々な色があり、どの色も料理、特に一般的なペッパーコーンソースに用いられる。

ブラックペッパー

ブラックペッパーは、コショウの木のまだ緑色で未熟な核果から作られる。核果は、洗浄と乾燥の準備のために熱湯で短時間調理される。熱がコショウの細胞壁を破壊し、乾燥中に褐変を引き起こす酵素の働きを促進する。

コショウの核果は、数日間、天日または機械で乾燥させることもできる。この間、種子の周りのコショウの皮は縮んで黒くなり、メラノイジンを含む薄くてしわの寄った黒い層になる。乾燥すると、このスパイスはブラックペッパーコーンと呼ばれる。ペッパーコーンが乾燥した後、調理用のコショウ粉は、実を砕くことによって得られ、この過程で抽出によって精油も得られることがある。

ホワイトペッパー

ホワイトペッパーは、コショウの木の熟した果実の種子のみで構成され、果実の薄い濃い色の皮（果肉）が取り除かれている。これは通常、レッティングと呼ばれるプロセスによって行われる。完全に熟した赤いコショウの実は約1週間水に浸され、ペッパーコーンの果肉が柔らかくなり分解する。その後、擦り洗いによって残った果肉が取り除かれ、むき出しになった種子が乾燥される。時には、他の機械的、化学的、または生物学的方法によって種子から外皮が除去されることもある。

粉末のホワイトペッパーは、中華料理、タイ料理、ポルトガル料理で一般的に使用される。ブラックペッパーが目立つため、サラダ、薄色のソース、マッシュポテトなど、他の料理でブラックペッパーの代替品として時々使用される。しかし、ホワイトペッパーには核果の外層に存在する特定の化合物がないため、全体的な風味が異なる。

グリーンペッパー

グリーンペッパーは、ブラックペッパーと同様に未熟な核果から作られる。乾燥したグリーンペッパーコーンは、二酸化硫黄処理、缶詰、フリーズドライなどの方法で緑色を保つように処理される。ピクルスにしたペッパーコーンも緑色で、未熟な核果を塩水または酢で保存したものである。

生の、保存されていないグリーンペッパーの核果は、タイ料理やタミル料理など一部の料理で使われる。その風味は「スパイシーで新鮮」で、「明るい香り」を持つと評される。乾燥または保存しないとすぐに腐敗するため、国際輸送には不向きである。

レッドペッパーコーン

レッドペッパーコーンは通常、塩水と酢で保存された熟したペッパーコーンの核果からなる。熟した赤いペッパーコーンは、グリーンペッパーの生産に使用されるのと同じ色を保つ技術を使って乾燥させることもできる。

ピンクペッパーおよびその他の植物

ピンクペッパーコーンは、ウルシ科という別の科の植物であるペルーコショウノキ（Schinus molle）またはその近縁種であるブラジルコショウノキ（Schinus terebinthifolius）の果実である。これらはカシューナッツ科に属するため、木の実アレルギーを持つ人にはアナフィラキシーを含むアレルギー反応を引き起こす可能性がある。

チリやアルゼンチンの寒冷・温帯地域では、カンナ（「カネロ」または「ウィンターズバーク」）の樹皮がコショウの代用品として使われている。これは容易に見つけることができ、入手も容易である。ニュージーランドでは、カワカワ（Piper excelsum）の種子（コショウ科の近縁種）がコショウとして使われることがある。Pseudowintera colorata（「マウンテンホロピト」）の葉もコショウの代替品である。アメリカ合衆国でも、ムギナデシコ、コショウソウ、ナズナ、ワサビダイコン、タネツケバナなど、いくつかの植物がコショウの代用品として使われている。

• 
  コショウの6種類のバリエーション（地域に基づいた2種類の白と2種類の黒）
• 
  黒コショウと白コショウ
• 
  乾燥赤色カンポットペッパー
• 
  ペッパーコーンのクローズアップ

Plants

Black pepper vine climbing on Jackfruit tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine growing up to 4 m (13 ft) in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the ground. The leaves are alternate, entire, 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) long and 3 to 6 cm (1.2 to 2.4 in) across. The flowers are small, produced on pendulous spikes 4 to 8 cm (1.6 to 3.1 in) long at the leaf nodes, the spikes lengthening up to 7 to 15 cm (2.8 to 5.9 in) as the fruit matures.

Pepper can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, moist, well-drained, and rich in organic matter. The vines do not do well over an altitude of 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure, and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils, the young plants require watering every other day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and then typically for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars, selected both for yield and quality of fruit.

Single stem with flowers.

A single stem bears 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is fully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the fruits lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped off the spikes.

Black pepper is native either to Southeast Asia or South Asia. Within the genus Piper, it is most closely related to other Asian species such as P. caninum.

Wild pepper grows in the Western Ghats region of India. Into the 19th century, the forests contained expansive wild pepper vines, as recorded by the Scottish physician Francis Buchanan (also a botanist and geographer) in his book A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (Volume III). However, deforestation resulted in wild pepper growing in more limited forest patches from Goa to Kerala, with the wild source gradually decreasing as the quality and yield of the cultivated variety improved. No successful grafting of commercial pepper on wild pepper has been achieved to date.

Production and trade

Black pepper production
2023, tonnes

Vietnam	257,427
Brazil	126,548
Indonesia	70,169
India	65,740
Malaysia	40,675
China	33,908
World	855,105
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations

In 2023, world production of black peppercorns was 855,105 tonnes, led by Vietnam with 30% of the total, and Brazil, Indonesia, and India as secondary producers (table). Peppercorns are among the most widely traded spice in the world, accounting for 20% of all spice imports.

History

Black pepper is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE. J. Innes Miller notes that while pepper was grown in southern Thailand and in Malaysia,Template:When its most important source was India, particularly the Malabar Coast, in what is now the state of Kerala. The lost ancient port city of Muziris of the Chera Dynasty, famous for exporting black pepper and various other spices, is mentioned in a number of classical historical sources for its trade with the Roman Empire, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Levant, and Yemen. Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money. The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems that recognize the term "peppercorn rent" as a token payment for something that is, essentially, a gift.

The ancient history of black pepper is often interlinked with (and confused with) that of long pepper, the dried fruit of closely related Piper longum. The Romans knew of both and often referred to either as just piper. In fact, the popularity of long pepper did not entirely decline until the discovery of the New World and of chili peppers. Chili peppers—some of which, when dried, are similar in shape and taste to long pepper—were easier to grow in a variety of locations more convenient to Europe. Before the 16th century, pepper was being grown in Java, Sunda, Sumatra, Madagascar, Malaysia, and everywhere in Southeast Asia. These areas traded mainly with China, or used the pepper locally. Ports in the Malabar area also served as a stop-off point for much of the trade in other spices from farther east in the Indian Ocean. The Maluku Islands, historically known as the "Spice Islands," are a region in Indonesia known for producing nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper, and were a major source of these spices in the world. The presence of these spices in the Maluku Islands sparked European interest to buy them directly in the 16th century.

Ancient times

Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE. Little else is known about the use of pepper in ancient Egypt and how it reached the Nile from the Malabar Coast of India.

Pepper (both long and black) was known in Greece at least as early as the fourth century BCE, though it was probably an uncommon and expensive item that only the very rich could afford.

A Roman-era trade route from India to Italy

By the time of the early Roman Empire, especially after Rome's conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, open-ocean crossing of the Arabian Sea direct to Chera dynasty southern India's Malabar Coast was near routine. Details of this trading across the Indian Ocean have been passed down in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, the early empire sent a fleet of around 120 ships on an annual trip to India and back. The fleet timed its travel across the Arabian Sea to take advantage of the predictable monsoon winds. Returning from India, the ships travelled up the Red Sea, from where the cargo was carried overland or via the Nile-Red Sea canal to the Nile River, barged to Alexandria, and shipped from there to Italy and Rome. The rough geographical outlines of this same trade route would dominate the pepper trade into Europe for a millennium and a half to come.

With ships sailing directly to the Malabar coast, Malabar black pepper was now travelling a shorter trade route than long pepper, and the prices reflected it. Pliny the Elder's Natural History tells us the prices in Rome around 77 CE: "Long pepper ... is 15 denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four." Pliny also complains, "There is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces", and further moralizes on pepper:

It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite?

— 

He does not state whether the 50 million was the actual amount of money which found its way to India or the total retail cost of the items in Rome, and, elsewhere, he cites a figure of 100 million sesterces.

Black pepper was a well-known and widespread, if expensive, seasoning in the Roman Empire. Apicius' De re coquinaria, a third-century cookbook probably based at least partly on one from the first century CE, includes pepper in a majority of its recipes. Edward Gibbon wrote, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that pepper was "a favorite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery".

Postclassical Europe

Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as collateral or even currency. The taste for pepper (or the appreciation of its monetary value) was passed on to those who would see Rome fall. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, included 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom he demanded from Rome when he besieged the city in the fifth century. After the fall of Rome, others took over the middle legs of the spice trade, first the Persians and then the Arabs; Innes Miller cites the account of Cosmas Indicopleustes, who travelled east to India, as proof that "pepper was still being exported from India in the sixth century". By the end of the Early Middle Ages, the central portions of the spice trade were firmly under Islamic control. Once into the Mediterranean, the trade was largely monopolized by Italian powers, especially Venice and Genoa. The rise of these city-states was funded in large part by the spice trade.

A riddle authored by Saint Aldhelm, a seventh-century Bishop of Sherborne, sheds some light on black pepper's role in England at that time:

It is commonly believed that during the Middle Ages, pepper was often used to conceal the taste of partially rotten meat. No evidence supports this claim, and historians view it as highly unlikely; in the Middle Ages, pepper was a luxury item, affordable only to the wealthy, who certainly had unspoiled meat available, as well. In addition, people of the time certainly knew that eating spoiled food would make them sick. Similarly, the belief that pepper was widely used as a preservative is questionable; it is true that piperine, the compound that gives pepper its spiciness, has some antimicrobial properties, but at the concentrations present when pepper is used as a spice, the effect is small. Salt is a much more effective preservative, and salt-cured meats were common fare, especially in winter. However, pepper and other spices played a role in improving the taste of long-preserved meats.

Archaeological evidence of pepper consumption in late medieval Northern Europe comes from excavations on the Danish-Norwegian flagship, Gribshunden, which sank in the summer of 1495. In 2021, archaeologists recovered more than 2000 peppercorns from the wreck, along with a variety of other spices and exotic foodstuffs including clove, ginger, saffron, and almond. The ship was carrying King Hans to a political summit at the time of its loss. The spices were likely intended for feasts at the summit, which would have included the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Councils of State.

A depiction of Calicut, Kerala, India published in 1572 during Portugal's control of the pepper trade

Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages – and the monopoly on the trade held by Venice – was one of the inducements that led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to reach India by sailing around Africa (see Age of Discovery); asked by Arabs in Calicut (who spoke Spanish and Italian) why they had come, his representative replied, "we seek Christians and spices". Though this first trip to India by way of the southern tip of Africa was only a modest success, the Portuguese quickly returned in greater numbers and eventually gained much greater control of trade on the Arabian Sea. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas granted Portugal exclusive rights to the half of the world where black pepper originated.

However, the Portuguese monopolized the spice trade for 150 years. Portuguese even became the lingua franca of the then known world. The spice trade made Portugal rich. However, in the 17th century, the Portuguese lost most of their valuable Indian Ocean trade to the Dutch and the English, who, taking advantage of the Spanish rule over Portugal during the Iberian Union (1580–1640), occupied by force almost all Portuguese interests in the area. The pepper ports of Malabar began to trade increasingly with the Dutch in the period 1661–1663.7

Pepper harvested for the European trade, from a manuscript Livre des merveilles de Marco Polo (The book of the marvels of Marco Polo)

As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper declined (though the total value of the import trade generally did not). Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means. Today, pepper accounts for one-fifth of the world's spice trade.

China

It is possible that black pepper was known in China in the second century BCE, if poetic reports regarding an explorer named Tang Meng (唐蒙) are correct. Sent by Emperor Wu to what is now south-west China, Tang Meng is said to have come across something called jujiang or "sauce-betel". He was told it came from the markets of Shu, an area in what is now the Sichuan province. The traditional view among historians is that "sauce-betel" is a sauce made from betel leaves, but arguments have been made that it actually refers to pepper, either long or black.

In the third century CE, black pepper made its first definite appearance in Chinese texts, as hujiao or "foreign pepper". It does not appear to have been widely known at the time, failing to appear in a fourth-century work describing a wide variety of spices from beyond China's southern border, including long pepper. By the 12th century, however, black pepper had become a popular ingredient in the cuisine of the wealthy and powerful, sometimes taking the place of China's native Sichuan pepper (the tongue-numbing dried fruit of an unrelated plant).

Marco Polo testifies to pepper's popularity in 13th-century China, when he relates what he is told of its consumption in the city of Kinsay (Hangzhou): "... Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs."

During the course of the Ming treasure voyages in the early 15th century, Admiral Zheng He and his expeditionary fleets returned with such a large amount of black pepper that the once-costly luxury became a common commodity.

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.

Pepper contains phytochemicals, including amides, piperidines, and pyrrolidines.

Pepper is known to cause sneezing. Some sources say that piperine, a substance present in black pepper, irritates the nostrils, causing the sneezing. Few, if any, controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question.

Nutrition

One tablespoon (6 grams) of ground black pepper contains moderate amounts of vitamin K (13% of the daily value or DV), iron (10% DV), and manganese (18% DV), with trace amounts of other essential nutrients, protein, and dietary fibre.

Flavour

Handheld pepper mills with black (left) and mixed (right) peppercorns

Pepper gets its spicy heat mostly from piperine derived from both the outer fruit and the seed. Black pepper contains between 4.6 and 9.7% piperine by mass, and white pepper slightly more than that. Refined piperine, by weight, is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin found in chili peppers. The outer fruit layer, left on black pepper, also contains aroma-contributing terpenes, including germacrene (11%), limonene (10%), pinene (10%), alpha-phellandrene (9%), and beta-caryophyllene (7%), which give citrusy, woody, and floral notes. These scents are mostly missing in white pepper, as the fermentation and other processing removes the fruit layer (which also contains some of the spicy piperine). Other flavours also commonly develop in this process, some of which are described as off-flavours when in excess: Primarily 3-methylindole (pig manure-like), 4-methylphenol (horse manure), 3-methylphenol (phenolic), and butyric acid (cheese). The aroma of pepper is attributed to rotundone (3,4,5,6,7,8-Hexahydro-3α,8α-dimethyl-5α-(1-methylethenyl)azulene-1(2H)-one), a sesquiterpene originally discovered in the tubers of Cyperus rotundus, which can be detected in concentrations of 0.4 nanograms/l in water and in wine: rotundone is also present in marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, and geranium, as well as in some Shiraz wines.

Pepper loses flavour and aroma through evaporation, so airtight storage helps preserve its spiciness longer. Pepper can also lose flavour when exposed to light, which can transform piperine into nearly tasteless isochavicine. Once ground, pepper's aromatics can evaporate quickly; most culinary sources recommend grinding whole peppercorns immediately before use for this reason. Handheld pepper mills or grinders, which mechanically grind or crush whole peppercorns, are used for this as an alternative to pepper shakers that dispense ground pepper. Spice mills such as pepper mills were found in European kitchens as early as the 14th century, but the mortar and pestle used earlier for crushing pepper have remained a popular method for centuries, as well.

Enhancing the flavour profile of peppercorns (including piperine and essential oils), prior to processing, has been attempted through the postharvest application of ultraviolet-C light (UV-C).

See also

• False black pepper – Embelia ribes is a species in the family Primulaceae (the primrose family)

External links

• Media related to Piper nigrum at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Piper nigrum at Wikispecies
• [[wikibooks:Cookbook:Pepper |]] at the Wikibooks Cookbook subproject