Black pepper: Difference between revisions

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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 of Han China|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 (state)|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.~~<ref>Dalby, p. 77.</ref>~~ 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).

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."

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 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 of Han China|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 (state)|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.<ref>Dalby, p. 77.</ref> 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).
+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]]): "...&nbsp;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&nbsp;loads, each load being equal to 223&nbsp;lbs."