Piper species / Peper

Black pepper (Piper nigrum)

Synonyms: Bai hu jiao (Chinese), beta-caryophyllene, Bioperine®, bisalkaloids, black pepper essential oil, black pepper oil, Brazilian black pepper, dipiperamide D, dipiperamide E, golmirch (Hindi), green pepper, guineensine, kaalii mirch (Hindi), kuru mulagu (Malayalam), kurumilagu (Malayalam), kurumulaku (Malayalam), nallamulaku (Malayalam), pimenta negra (Portuguese), pimenta-do-reino (Portuguese - Brazil), pimento (Portuguese), pimienta (Spanish), pimienta negra (Spanish), pimiento (Spanish), pink pepper Piperaceae (family), piperine, piptigrine, poivre (French), poivre noir (French), red pepper, terpenoid, white pepper, wisanine.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is native to India and other southeastern Asian countries. Black pepper, white pepper, green pepper, pink pepper, and red pepper are all differently preserved berries or seeds of the Piper nigrum plant. Although black pepper has been used as a spice for millennia, it has also traditionally been used in India to treat diarrhea. In the Ayurvedic tradition, a preparation called Trikatu (black pepper, long pepper, and ginger) is prescribed routinely for a variety of diseases.

Recent laboratory studies indicate that black pepper may also be beneficial in pain and Alzheimer's disease. In clinical trials, inhalation of black pepper oil improved withdrawal symptoms of cigarette smoking and the ability to swallow in post-stroke patients and in children with neurologic disorders.

Ingestion of black pepper may cause dyspepsia (upset stomach) and other gastrointestinal adverse effects. Inhalation of black pepper has caused respiratory irritation, edema, and even respiratory arrest, severe anoxia, and death. There may also be a link between ingestion of black pepper and nasopharyngeal or esophageal cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved black pepper, black pepper oil, black pepper oleoresin, piperidine, and piperine as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use in foods in the United States.

Black Pepper: Piper Nigrum (Medicinal & Aromatic Plants-Industrial Profiles): 13 (Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - Industrial Profiles)

Black Pepper is the first monograph to be published on this important spice, the most widely-used by mankind. This monograph includes chapters on all aspects of the crop's botany and its improvement, agronomy, chemistry, post harvest technology, processing, diseases, insect pests, marketing, economics and uses. The available information is collected and presented for the use of students, teachers and research workers. All the chapters are written by experts in their fields.

The book -- a veritable 'treasure trove' of all that is known about the crop -- is meant for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers and researchers in the areas of agriculture, horticulture and crop botany. This will serve both as a text book and as a reference book. It is hoped that this monograph will remain the major reference source for all pepper workers for at least the next decade.