Pepper, black
Black pepper has been a valued spice during the times.
Black pepper starts out as a little green fruit, called a drupe. The drupes are picked when still unripe.
First, they are cooked briefly, to prepare them for drying. Heating them both to rupture the cell walls and clean the dudes.
The drupes are dried either in the sun or by machine. It takes several days.
It is in the drying process, that the pepper around the corn becomes a wrinkled black layer.
Pepper is native to south and southeast Asia, and have been known at least since 2000 BC. In old times pepper was a high priced product, also known as black gold.
In the Early Middle Ages, the pepper trade was under Islamic control. But when it entered the Mediterranean is largely monopolized by the Italians. The city-states Genoa and Venice were founded in large part bt the trade of pepper.
Black pepper also inhibits gas from forming in the stomach. It also inhibits more gas from forming in the body.
Though that we normally not eat so much pepper we can get our daily dose of vitamins and minerals covered by eating pepper alone, it is nice to know the pepper have very good health properties.
The nutrient fact, below, is based on 100 gram of dried peppercorn.
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 76.4
Thiamin mg 0.328
Riboflavin mg 0.919
Niacin mg 8.701
Vitamin B-6 mg 2.45
Folate, DFE µg 106
Vitamin B-12 µg 0
Vitamin A, RAE µg 2081
Vitamin A, IU IU 41610
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) mg 29.83
Vitamin D (D2 + D3) µg 0
Vitamin D IU 0
Vitamin K (phylloquinone) µg 80.3
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated g 3.26
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated g 2.75
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated g 8.37
Cholesterol mg 0
Proximates
Water g 8.05
Energy kcal 318
Protein g 12.01
Total lipid (fat) g 17.27
Carbohydrate, by difference g 56.63
Fiber, total dietary g 27.2
Sugars, total g 10.34
Minerals
Calcium, Ca mg 148
Iron, Fe mg 7.8
Magnesium, Mg mg 152
Phosphorus, P mg 293
Potassium, K mg 2014
Sodium, Na mg 30
Zinc, Zn mg 2.48
Other
Caffeine mg 0
