In P. retrofractum, piperine, piperlonguminine, sylvatine,
guineensine, piperlongumine, filfiline, sitosterol, methyl piperate and a
series of piperine-analog retrofractamides are reported.
(Phytochemistry, 24, 279, 1985)
The content of piperine (about 6%) is slightly higher than in
black pepper.
Piper retrofractum: Long pepper plant
Long pepper plant (
P. retrofractum)
kanchanapisek.or.th © Thai Junior Encyclopedia
On the other hand, long pepper contains less essential oil than
its relatives (about 1%), which
consists of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and ethers (bisabolene,
β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, each
10 to 20%; α-zingiberene, 5%),
and, surprisingly, saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons: 18% pentadecane,
7% tridecane, 6% heptadecane.
Origin
The species Piper longum is of South Asian origin
(Deccan peninsular), whereas the closely related Piper retrofractum
comes from South East Asia and is mostly cultivated in Indonesia and
Thailand. Both species are often not clearly distinguished in the
spice trade.
Etymology
Pepper and related words names in most other European tongues
ultimately derive from the Sanskrit name of long pepper,
pippali [पिप्पलि, पिप्पली]
Long pepper reached Europe earlier than the now
much more important black pepper, and thus the
latter inherited the name of the former.
There is no known etymology for Sanskrit pippali, the word clearly being of non-Indo–European
origin. Note that pippala [पिप्पल]
is the Sanskrit names of the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) which figures prominently in Buddhism because Siddharta Gautama got
enlighted while sitting in the shadow of such a tree. That name occurs already in the early Rigveda and has been
tentatively categorized as neither Indo–European nor Dravidian nor Munda, but belonging to an ancient, now extinct language X
of Northern India that is visible only through some loan words in later tongues.
The first Europeans enjoying pepper were the Greeks. They called the spice
peperi [πέπερι],
which is pretty close to the original Sanskrit word. When the dominion of the
Mediterranean passed from the Greeks to the Romans, the latter also inherited
the former’s rôle as main pepper consumers. In fact, late Roman cuisine
depended heavily on Eastern spices in general, and both long and black pepper
in particular (see also silphion). In Latin, pepper
was called piper, still today the botanical genus name.
Piper retrofractum: Ripe long pepper
Ripe South East Asian long pepper fruits (
P. retrofractum)
kanchanapisek.or.th © Thai Junior Encyclopedia
Latin piper is progenitor of almost all names of
pepper in contemporary European languages.
See black pepper for more information.
Since words derived from Latin piper signify
black pepper
in all modern
European languages, names of long pepper are usually formed with
an adjective long
, e. g., Turkish uzun biber,
Russian dlinnyj perets [длинный перец],
Swedish långpeppar and French poivre
long, all meaning plainly long pepper
; cf. also Slovak
dlhé korenie long spice
,
Chinese chang jiao [長椒] long (Sichuan) pepper
and Greek makropipero [μακροπίπερο]
large pepper
.
Some Indic tongues have, however, preserved two different words for
long and black pepper. For example, in Urdu, long pepper is called
pipul [پیپل],
whereas black pepper may be called with an Arabic loanword,
filfil [فلفل].
Of course, both pipul and filfil ultimately
derive from the same Sanskrit name, pippali. Black pepper has
more names in Urdu, which are formed from another Aryan root; see
black pepper for details.
Another example is Marathi pimpali [पिंपळी] long pepper
vs. mire [मिरे] black pepper
;
a similar pair exists in Gujarati:
pipari [પીપરી] vs.
mari [મરી].
Old European sources often had troubles to distinguish long pepper from
chiles, both of which are pungent and have
an elongated shape. The name long pepper was used for both
spices in the 16.th century. Apparently, in modern Farsi, the name
dar felfel [دار فلفل]
woody pepper
may still denote either of the two,
although it seems more fitting for long pepper than for chile.
Selected Links
Indian Spices: Chabika (indianetzone.com)
Indian Spices: Long Pepper (indianetzone.com)
Gewürz-Bazar: Langer Pfeffer
Sorting Piper names (www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au)
Francesco Sirene: Spices & Herbs (Catalogue)
Olivers and Co: Long Pepper
Recipe: Ethiopian Lentils and Berebere [በርበሬ] (jewish-food.org)
Recipe: Berbere [በርበሬ] Powder (hometalkers.com)
Recipe: Berebere [በርበሬ] Powder (globalgarden.com)
Recipe: Berebere [በርበሬ] Paste and More Ethiopian Recipes (indiajoze.com)
Rezept von goccus.com: Berbere [በርበሬ]
Rezept von goccus.com: Niter kibbi [ንጥር ቅቤ]
INDU-Versand
Aromates, épices et condiments du monde entier
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
History of long and black pepper (polyglotveg.blogspot.com)
Recipe: Doro wot [ዶሮ ወጥ] (Ethiopian Chicken Stew) (recipes.chef2chef.net)
Recipe: Doro wat [ዶሮ ወጥ] (Ethiopian Chicken Stew) (fooddownunder.com)
Traditional Ethiopian Wat Recipes (www.hotpaste.com)
Eritrean Recipes (geocities.com)
Wuerzmich.com: Langer Pfeffer
Eritreische Gewürze (asmarino.de)
Piper longum: Long pepper
Long pepper, flowering plant (
P. longum)
Piper longum: Long pepper: Flower
Flower of Indian long pepper (
P. longum)
Long pepper probably came to Europe before the now dominant
black pepper. It was highly priced during the Roman
Empire — about three times the price of black pepper. With its taste pungent
and sweet at the same time, it was perfect for Roman cookery especially fond of
these two taste sensations (see
silphion for
details). In our days, long pepper is nearly unknown and sometimes hard to
obtain.
Since terpene components are missing from its aroma, long pepper cannot be
substituted by ordinary black pepper (you may try white pepper plus a little
bit of mace, though). Its hot–and–sweet taste goes
well with spicy cheese specialties (it’s a secret
of my personal cheese
fondue mixture) or wine sauces.
In Asia, two different plants with exactly the same sensory properties are
used: Piper retrofractum from Indonesia has rods a little bit
smaller than Piper longum from India (Bengal pepper). In
Western countries, mostly the latter is available.
Since long pepper is more pungent than black pepper, it must be used with care,
unless you like fiery food. Crush the rods before use. In India, the main
application for long pepper is its usage in spicy vegetable pickles
(in Hindi, achar [अचार]).
Rather remarkably, long pepper is also known and popular in parts of Africa,
namely in the Islâmic regions of North and East Africa, whereto it has
been introduced by Arab traders. Therefore, long pepper is sometimes found in
the complex spice mixtures of Morocco (ras el hanout, see cubeb pepper); but it is also of some importance for
the cuisine of Ethiopia, where long pepper is usually found in the traditional
meat stews (wat), mostly together with black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and turmeric; the
usage of turmeric exemplifies Indian influence in Ethiopian cuisine. Popular
recipes are siga wat [ስጋ ወጥ], lean beef cubes
braised in a spicy, thick gravy made from chiles,
onions and garlic,
and doro wat [ዶሮ ወጥ],
a stew of chicken and hard-boiled eggs in similar gravy. Besides rice, the
main staple in East Africa is a thin leavened bread (injera [እንጀራ]),
which is made from a local cereal, teff [ጤፍ] (Eragrostis tef).
Piper longum: Long Pepper Flowers
Flowering long pepper
Spice usage in Ethiopia parallels Indian tradition in several ways: Clarified butter
(niter kibbi [ንጥር ቅቤ])
is a common ingredient; other than Indian ghi, the Ethiopian
version is prepared with spices and more often used as a flavouring than as
a cooking medium.
Also, the classical Ethiopian spice mixture berbere
(also spelt berebere) resembles Indian masalas
(see cumin) not only in its list of ingredients, but
also in its preparation process which includes dry toasting of ingredients.
In Ethiopia, the term berbere [በርበሬ] refers
to both a coarse powder of semihot to hot chiles
and to a spice mixture (flavoured berbere
) which
contains chiles as the main ingredient.
Berbere mixture is rather hot
and traditionally used to spice mutton dishes; it is made by toasting dry chiles a few minutes until they darken and subsequent
adding of long and black pepper, ginger, coriander fruits,
fenugreek and a little bit of ajwain. Sweet tones are achieved by cinnamon, cardamom seeds,
cloves and even allspice. Another ingredient, often omitted in recipes
designed for the Western market, is rue, either
in form of fresh leaves or as fresh or dried fruits.
Berbere can be made into a paste with water, wine or
mead (tej [ጠጅ]); such
a paste, called awaze or awazi [አዋዜ],
is usually served as a table condiment. The paste can again be dried at
elevated temperature to yield an even more aromatic spice. Some very complex
berbere recipes consist of repeated steps of moistening and
drying; the more delicate ingredient (rue leaves,
basil) are added only before the last step.
Ethiopia’s small neighbour Eritrea features a related cuisine which, however,
acquires a distict character by the use of Mediterranean ingredients (e. g.,
pasta) and herbs, which had been introduced during the
Italian colonial era. The basic condiment is berbere paste prepared
similar to the Ethiopian version, but with less chile;
dried onions provide the typical Eritrean flavour.
Example of Eritrean foods are the chicken stew tsebhi dorho [ጸብሒ ደርሆ]
and a similar beef stew, zigni [ዝግኒ].
Eritrean flat bread ingera [እንጌራ]
is, as its Ethiopian counterpart, made from teff or a teff–wheat-blend, but is has a milder
taste due to lesser fermentation.
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