A lot of money was invested in developing seafaring: the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus would have been unthinkable without pepper. In the end, it was da Gama who first brought a cargo of pepper by ship from India to Europe in 1498.
They were likely used in medicines and to flavor wine. Pepper's popularity in Europe rose dramatically in 30 BCE after Rome's conquest of Egypt, and its use spread rapidly to Roman Gaul (mostly modern-day France and Germany) and Roman Britain. Pepper became an essential ingredient in food in the Roman world.
This is how the great adventure of chili peppers' culinary conquest began. In 1494 the “pepper” arrived in Europe, where it was first received as an exotic plant used to decorate gardens, until some monks in Portugal discovered that it was a cheap, tasty and spicy pepper replacement.
Known as the “King of Spices”, pepper is the most important spice traded internationally. Pepper was one the earliest commodities that was traded between the orient and Europe. In medieval times, pepper frequently changed hands as rent, dowry and tax.
It became one of the earliest traded spices between the East and the West. Roman records show large quantities of pepper imported for cooking and medicine. India's Malabar Coast was a primary source, making it a key player in early trade. Traders shipped pepper across land and sea using caravans and ships.
The History of Pepper — The Spice That Built Empires
Did ancient Greeks have pepper?
Greece and Rome
Many Eastern spices like pepper, cassia, cinnamon, and ginger were imported by the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates, often called the "Father of Medicine,"wrote many treatises on medicinal plants including saffron, cinnamon, thyme, coriander, mint, and marjoram.
In the early days of history spices were worth fabulous sums, owing to the difficulty of obtaining them and the high cost of transportation. When Alaric the Goth conquered Rome in 410 A. D., he asked as a ransom 3,000 pounds of pepper, then worth more than its weight in gold.
Salt and pepper were available to most Vikings while costlier spices were imported and added to the foods of wealthier Vikings. This of course omits the more exotic foods that Vikings obtained by trade.
Before the introduction of the potato, those in Ireland, England and continental Europe lived mostly off grain, which grew inconsistently in regions with a wet, cold climate or rocky soil. Potatoes grew in some conditions where grain could not, and the effect on the population was overwhelming.
The first voyage of the East India Company returned to England in 1603 laden with peppercorns, and this business venture began centuries of colonialism with capitalism and brutality at its heart. In the Middle Ages, pepper existed with a medicinal purpose, as Dr Paul Freedman, a scholar of Medieval foods, explains.
While it is generally accepted that the earliest chilis did not include beans, proponents of their inclusion contend that chili with beans has a sufficiently long history to be considered authentic.
Black pepper is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE. J. Innes Miller notes that while pepper was grown in southern Thailand and in Malaysia, its most important source was India, particularly the Malabar Coast, in what is now the state of Kerala.
The bell pepper is the only member of the genus Capsicum that does not produce capsaicin, a lipophilic chemical that can cause a strong burning sensation when it comes in contact with mucous membranes. Bell peppers are thus scored in the lowest level of the Scoville scale, meaning that they are not spicy.
Despite their dry and cracked appearance, peppercorns actually start as fruit! They grow on a flowering vine called piper nigrum, in the Piperaceae family. These wide-leafed plants are native to India; however, the vines are grown in nearly every tropical region, including Vietnam, Brazil, China, and Indonesia.
A lot of money was invested in developing seafaring: the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus would have been unthinkable without pepper. In the end, it was da Gama who first brought a cargo of pepper by ship from India to Europe in 1498.
It's also one of the globe's oldest spices, with historical records dating pepper's existence back to India 3,000 years ago. Black pepper has maintained an important place as a healing spice in the ancient system of Ayurvedic medicine ever since.
Until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, grains such as oats, wheat and barley, cooked either as porridge or bread, formed the staple of the Irish diet.
The Vikings needed all the energy that they could get in the form of fat – especially in winter. Meat, fish, vegetables, cereals and milk products were all an important part of their diet. Sweet food was consumed in the form of berries, fruit and honey.
Pigs were kept for their meat, and cattle, sheep and goats were sometimes eaten too, although these animals were more usually kept to produce dairy products like milk and butter. Readily available vegetables likely included turnips and shallots as well as beans, peas and goosefoot (a leafy plant similar to kale).
In Apicius' The Art of Cooking, the main source for the Roman culinary arts to survive from antiquity, pepper appears in the vast majority of recipes, whether during preparation or as a final garnish.
"The examination of skeletons from different localities in Scandinavia reveals that the average height of the Vikings was a little less than that of today: men were about 5 ft 7-3/4 in. tall and women 5 ft 2-1/2 in.
1. Black Pepper: A timeless classic, black pepper powder remains a kitchen staple, renowned for its sharp, pungent kick. From seasoning steaks to enhancing soups and salads, black pepper adds a distinctive flavor profile to a myriad of dishes, making it indispensable to chefs and home cooks alike.
In fact, black pepper was so coveted in the Ancient World that it was known by merchants as “black gold”. The global popularity of pepper followed the rise of the Roman Empire.
Saffron, The Spice More Expensive Than Gold. It takes 70,000 saffron crocus flowers to produce just one pound of saffron threads, making saffron the world's most expensive spice. Saffron can only be harvested and processed by hand as its petals must be peeled away gently to collect the delicate saffron threads.
