name: Pepper (Spice)

flavor_db_name_variants: pepper spice

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Pepper (Spice)

id: 139

name_scientific: Piper nigrum

description: Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately 5 millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed. Peppercorns, and the ground pepper derived from them, may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit) and white pepper (dried ripe seeds). Black pepper is native to south India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Currently Vietnam is the world's largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing 34% of the world's Piper nigrum crop as of 2008. Dried ground pepper has been used since antiquity for both its flavour and as a medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice. It is one of the most common spices added to European cuisine and its descendants. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine, not to be confused with the capsaicin that gives fleshy peppers theirs. It is ubiquitous in the modern world, often paired with salt.

itis_id: 18310

wikipedia_id: Black pepper

picture_file_name: 139.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 165046

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:36:32.000Z

legacy_id: 147

food_group: Herbs and Spices

food_subgroup: Spices

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:22.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:04:17.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: 2

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 13216

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00139