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Black Pepper
Black Pepper is a product from the berries of the pepper plant. They are made by plucking pepper berries when they are half ripe. Then they are left to dry that causes them to shrivel and get dark in color.
Black pepper is pungent and most flavorful of all types of spices. Its scientific name is Piper Nigrum.
History
Black pepper is e among the oldest spices and one which was once so expensive and prized that it was used in form of currency and in place of gold.
Black pepper is an exclusive product of India, particularly South India from where it was exported to Greece and Egypt in 4th century BC. It was one of the most heavily traded items in ancient and medieval trade.
Nutritional Content
Black pepper is very useful source of manganese. It has also high contents of iron, and dietary fiber.
Health Benefits
There are a number of health benefits associated with this very popular and one of the oldest spice.
- Improve Digestion: Black pepper stimulates taste buds that results in higher hydrochloric acid secretion by intestine, which results in improved digestion. Hydrochloric acid is essential is proper digestion of proteins and fats. It also helps in prevention of diarrhea and constipation.
- Prevents Gastric Troubles: Black pepper has antioxidant and antibacterial effect on digestive system that helps in prevention of gastric troubles.
- Medicinal Values: Black pepper founds regular mention in Ayurveda and Unani medicine systems of India. Ancient as well as modern medical texts speaks of its use in curing illness such as constipation, diarrhea, earache, gangrene, heart disease, hernia, insect bites, tooth decay and liver problems.
- The oil of black pepper is used in external application to treat skin diseases and prevent hair loss.
Caution
Black pepper is not advises to be given to patients having abdominal surgery and ulcers. Apart from this, it not known to be associated with any allergies except causing mild sneezes if inhaled.
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