Get to know your herbs and spices : Black Pepper

Basic Information:
Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum) is native to India.The edible part of the pepper plant are the fruit(peppercorns).The peppercorns are harvested,boiled and dried.The actual black color of the peppercorn is achieved during the drying process.Black pepper is the spiciest of all peppers (Green,red,white) and it is the most commonly used spice after salt.

What food to use it for?
Pepper is essential in every savory dish to make it yummy.Even a tiny dash of pepper in chocolate will make a huge difference

How to buy/store it:
If you buy pepper you should always go for whole peppercorns,because the ground pepper available in the supermarket lacks aroma.A lot of super markets carry whole peppercorns along with peppercorn mills.
The ideal would be to purchase organic whole black peppercorns.You will get the maximum of flavor and health benefits.Store your pepper either in a peppermill or in an airtight container in a cool,dry place.But after 3-4 months of storage,pepper will loose it's wonderful aroma.

Health benefits:
-Aids digestion (breakdown of enzymes)
-avoids growth of bad bacteria in the intestine
-helps to reduce gas during the digestion process
-very rich in antioxidants (anti-aging)
-speeds up the metabolism
-consumed in larger amounts it clears the respiratory tract from mucus,it will also make you sweat
-keeps arteries clean
-stops diarrhoea (1 teaspoon finely ground pepper taken with 100 ml of water)

whole peppercorns

 

freshly ground peppercorns from a peppercornmill 

You see that pepper is more than just a spice :)