The Malabar Pepper Company

The World's Finest

PEPPER in history

Black pepper is used in traditional medicines like ayurveda, to aid digestion and the absorption of nutrients and herbal drugs.  Pepper is said to have broad antimicrobial, anti-parasitic and insecticidal properties. These medicinal properties are attributed to the alkaloid Piperene, a key ingredient of pepper. Piperine has been linked to improved absorption of nutrients, including beta-carotene, in an oral dose as small as a few milligrams, and has been called a "supernutrient".

 

Pepper, once known as Black Gold, was worth its weight in gold. In the fifth century, 3,000 pounds of pepper was demanded as ransom by Alaric the Visigoth for sparing Rome. Pepper grew in the hills of southwest India, and demand for the valuable spice made the Malabar coast one of the world's great destinations. Pepper, indispensable to preserving meat, sold in Europe for 600 times its cost in India during the 16th and 17th centuries.

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