Black Pepper

Description

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is often called the 'King of Spices'—and for good reason. It is the world's most traded spice, a historical currency, and a staple on nearly every dinner table today. It is derived from the unripe green berries of the Piper nigrum vine, a flowering plant native to the Malabar Coast of Kerala in Southern India. The intense, sharp, and biting heat of black pepper does not come from capsaicin (the chemical that makes chili peppers hot), but from a unique alkaloid compound called piperine.