Old World (True) Peppers
Black pepper (Piper nigrum), the true pepper, is economically the most important species of the pantropical pepper family (Piperaceae). It is native to Java, whence it was introduced into other tropical countries. A perennial climbing shrub, it bears pea-sized fruits, the peppercorns of commerce. Black pepper, sold whole or ground, is the dried whole fruit; white pepper, made by removing the dark outer hull, has a milder and less biting flavor. Pepper owes its pungency to a derivative of pyridine pyridine or azine , C5H5N, colorless, flammable, toxic liquid with a putrid odor. It melts at −42°C; and boils at 115.5°C;. Chemically, it is a heterocyclic aromatic tertiary amine (see under amino group).
..... Click the link for more information. . In the earliest days of commerce black pepper was a great luxury and a staple article of trade between India and Europe. So high was its price that a few pounds made a royal gift, and the great demand was one of the causes of the search for a sea route to the East. Pepper was valued by Hippocrates for its medicinal properties as a heart and kidney stimulant, and it is still used as a powder or tincture, as a local irritant or liniment, or as a gargle. Many other species of Piper are used medicinally throughout the tropics. The leaves of the betel pepper (P. betle) of the Indomalaysian region are a principal ingredient of the masticatory betel betel , masticatory made from slices of betel palm seeds (called betel nuts) smeared onto a betel pepper leaf together with other aromatic flavorings and lime paste and rolled up.
..... Click the link for more information. .
Cubeb is the name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub P. cubeba. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as a catarrh remedy. The oil is used medicinally and also in soap manufacture. The masticated roots of kava, P. methysticum, widely grown in its native Pacific islands, are made into a beverage called kavakava, which contains soporific alkaloids. It is an integral part of religious and social life there. A preparation of kava for commerce, also called kavakava, is sold widely as an herbal remedy for anxiety and insomnia.
New World Peppers
The
red peppers, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of America and widely cultivated elsewhere, are various species of Capsicum (of the nightshade nightshade, common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping types, and rank-smelling foliage is typical of many species.
..... Click the link for more information. family), especially the numerous varieties of C. frutescens. These bushy, woody-stemmed plants were cultivated in South America prior to the time of Columbus, who is said to have taken specimens back to Europe. The "hot" varieties include
cayenne pepper, whose dried ground fruit is sold as a spice, and the
chili pepper, sold similarly as a powder or in a sauce (one variety is known in the United States by the trade name Tabasco). The chili pepper is much used in cooking in Mexico, where some 200 varieties are known.
Paprika (the Hungarian name for red pepper) is a ground spice from a less pungent variety widely cultivated in Central Europe.
The
pimiento, or Spanish pepper, with a small fruit used as a condiment and for stuffing olives, and the sweet
red and green peppers, with larger fruits used as table vegetables and in salads, are mild types. (The pimiento should not be confused with the pimento pimento or allspice, common names for a tree (Pimenta dioica or P. officinalis) of the family Myrtaceae (myrtle family) cultivated in the West Indies for its dried unripe berries, used medicinally and as a spice (also called
..... Click the link for more information. or allspice, of the myrtle family.) A variety of C. frutescens with delicate leaves and cherrylike fruit is grown as an ornamental and house plant.
Classification
True pepper is classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta , division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Piperales, family Piperaceae.
pepper
or garden pepper)
pepper
pepper [′pep·ər]
| (language) | Pepper - A variant of POP-11 by Chris Dollin <kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com>. |
Pepper
(Piper nigrum), a species of plants of the genus Piper of the family Piperaceae. The pepper, a perennial climbing plant, has a semilignified, flexible, slender stalk, measuring 10–12 m long, and adventitious aerial roots, which form on the nodes. The entire leaves are ovate, leathery, and alternate. The small flowers, which are grayish green or white, are gathered into loose inflorescences measuring 7–10 cm long. The fruit, a globose one-seeded drupe, is 3–5 mm in diameter. Originally green in color, the drupe turns red when ripe and black when dried.
The pepper is native to India. It is cultivated in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, Eastern Africa, and America. In the USSR the plant is grown in hothouses. The cultivated pepper is monoecious; the wild form is dioecious. When propagated by seeds, the pepper flowers in the third or fourth year. Plants that have been propagated vegetatively flower in the fifth or sixth month. The plant flowers only once; the fruit ripens in five to ten months. Peppers graft well; they branch profusely after pruning.
The harvest from one pepper plant is 0.6–1.5 kg. The optimal air temperature is 24°-26°C. The plant, which is not drought resistant, grows best on fertile soils that are moist but drained. As many as 7,500 plants may be planted per hectare (with three seeds in each hole).
The pepper plant is used as a spice in cooking and by the food-processing industry. Its pungency and spiciness depend on its content of the alkaloid pipeline and essential oils.
T. I. KALMYKOVA
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|