Tamil Nadu, India]] History[edit]

ully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the fruit 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.[13]
Black pepper is either native to South East Asia.[14] or Southern Asia[15] Within the genus Piper, it is most closely related to other Asian species such as Piper caninum.[15]

Piper nigrum on tree support in Goa, India



Pepper vine, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India]]

History[edit]



Pepper in Kerala, India


Pepper before ripening


Peppercorn close-up
Pepper is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2 BCE.[16] J. Innes Miller notes that while pepper was grown in southern Thailand and in Malaysia, its most important source was India, particularly the Malabar Coast, in what is now the state of Kerala[17] 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 which recognize the term "peppercorn rent" as a form of a token payment made for something that is in fact being given.
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, it was not until the discovery