| Spices |
Man has used spices since the beginning of ancient times.
Not only to flavor food, but also to make medicines more pleasant and
effective and to enhance the many substances used as cosmetics and perfumes.
Unguents, pomades, lotions and even aromatic pastilles all contained spices.
So intense was the pleasure gained from these substances, that man was
not content with what was available in nearby regions and this thirst
led to a search for new spices in far off lands, even at the cost of long
and difficult voyages.
So the spice trade developed quickly and easily and in certain periods
grew to immense proportions, especially when it was discovered that spices
could also help conserve food.
Under the Roman empire, cooks used them to season magnificent recipes
and to give body to certain drinks.
Wine, for example, was served with blueberries, thyme and even fennel.
Spices were also used in the preparation of poisons and magical love potions.
Cipriani's packages
| Pepper |
This is the name given to the fruit of the various species of the pepper plant, the most important of which is Piper Nigrum. This is grown in Malabar, southern India, Ceylon, Malacca, Java, Sumatra and Borneo.
The plant is a climbing shrub, like a liana and it can trail for as long as ten meters.
The fruit grows in clusters and there are usually twenty to forty small, round berries per cluster.
When the berries or peppercorns are completely ripe, they turn a reddish color. The fruit is usually picked, however, before it becomes completely ripe.
The peppercorns are picked by hand, they are then removed from the stalk and left to dry in the sun. After that, they are sorted and cleaned.
Last of all, the peppercorns are packed into 50/60 kg sacks.
| Black pepper |
Black peppercorns consist mainly of starch, nitrogenous
substances and cellulose.
They contains small quantities of essential oil, a sharp-tasting resin
and approximately 7% of piperine which is what gives pepper its heat.
The dark brown corns are round and wrinkled and measure between 3 and
6 mm in diameter.
They taste and smell both sharp and hot.
| White pepper |
This is obtained by picking the corns when they are extremely
ripe. They are then soaked in sea or lime water and the outer skin is
rubbed off.
The proportion of essential oil and piperine is much lower than black
pepper which is why it is not as sharp tasting or as hot.
