Pepper: The Black Gold

“One got the impression that to go to a high-class dinner party in Ancient Rome was to go All the Way To India laden with Gold in exchange for pepper and spices.” – Pliny the Elder, the Roman encyclopaedist.

Pepper in Ancient India

Pepper cultivation began thousands of years ago in India, where it was native, and it was soon introduced to the major islands of Indonesia by traders. Two species of pepper were domesticated: long pepper (Piper longum) in the northeast of India and black pepper (Piper nigrum) in the southwest. Long pepper was the most popular pepper in Rome because of its greater pungency, while black pepper dominated in medieval Europe because it was more readily available to traders.

Pepper in the Roman Empire

Pepper – both long and black – was known in Greece by the 4th century BCE, probably as a luxury item that only the very rich could afford. They were likely used in medicines and to flavour 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. The wealthy used it liberally in almost everything eaten.   

Roman cuisine was infused with exotic flavours, including ginger from China and pepper from India. Indian pepper was particularly popular and extremely expensive. It was used in fish and meat sauces, in medicines, and in stimulating tonics which were believed to cure impotence. Romans also mixed pepper and other aromatics into their wine: ingredients such as frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom were added, and the wine was heated over a slow fire.

The Romans began making regular trips across the Arabian Sea to southern India’s Malabar Coast by the 1st millennium CE. Quite specific details of these trips were passed down in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written between 45 and 55 CE by an unknown Greek-speaking sailor. The bulk of the pepper was picked up at the city of Muziris along the western coast of India, in huge ships with capacities of over 400 tons.

All these movements were being catalysed by the monsoon winds. Let me try and explain.

The Monsoon

The monsoons are a door to the past, present and future of India. It carries the convergence of culture, ideas, movements, and concepts that made up a historic era, and was also a channel for cultural exchange with other parts of the world.

For centuries, the monsoon had kept its date with the Malabar Coast. Our ancient calendars tell us the rains would come at Edavapathi, the middle of the Malayalam month of Edavam, which falls in the first week of June. An egg-carrying ant colony heads indoors and the little frog in the cellar croaks in anticipation. The umbrella companies know it too as their advertisements get heavy rotation on TV channels.

Pliny labelled this season as Hippalus after the legendary sailor. However, he later states that ‘Roman and Greek sailors were never able to master these winds and related actions’.

Hence, it was left to Arabs to give it the modern name. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic mawsim, mausim, appropriately meaning ‘season, time of year’.

It could have also come from another word, wasama – ‘to mark’ and thus also meant ‘appropriate season (for a voyage, pilgrimage, etc.)’. For European traders, it was a new concept as they knew only summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Portuguese sailors in the Indian Ocean discovered this Arabic word and started using it to indicate the season when the winds were just right to begin sailing towards the East Indies. The same was followed by Dutch traders and the word entered into English somewhere in 1584.

The Greek geographer Strabo (c.64 BCE) reported that the Roman Empire sent 120 ships on an annual one-year trip to India and back, riding the monsoon winds. On their return, the ships travelled up the Red Sea to Berenice, where the cargo was unloaded and carried across the desert to the Nile, then floated by barge to Alexandria in Roman Egypt and shipped to Europe where it was unloaded and stored in great horrea piperateria (pepper warehouses) in a dedicated spice quarter of Rome. This massive movement of pepper to Rome continued until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century CE. The story goes that Alaric the Visigoth asked Rome for a ransom of more than a ton of pepper when he besieged the city in 410 CE.

The cost of the Roman pepper trade must have been staggering. Pliny complained in the 1st century CE that “there is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of fifty million sesterces [over 100 million in today’s US dollars]”. He described the allure and value of pepper as: “Why do we like it so much? Some foods attract by sweetness, some by their appearance, but neither the pod nor the berry of pepper has anything to be said for it. We only want it for its bite – and we will go to India to get it. Who was the first to try it with food? Who was so anxious to develop an appetite that hunger would not do the trick? Pepper and ginger both grow wild in their native countries and yet we value them in terms of gold and silver.”

Pepper in the Middle Ages

Pepper’s popularity in both cuisine and medicine reached its historical peak during the Middle Ages in Europe. Pepper and other spices were not only thought to be healthy but were also widely used to enrich the natural qualities of food. Food in medieval households was highly processed and richly spiced. Uncooked food was rarely eaten, even vegetables and fruit. The spices were used to season all types of food including meat, fish, soups, sweet dishes and wine. It was also common in medieval banquets to pass around a ‘spice platter’ from which guests could choose extra seasonings like pepper for their already richly accented meals.

Historical records are filled with references to the copious use of spices among the wealthy in medieval Europe. When William I of Scotland (r. 1165-1214) visited Richard I of England (r. 1189-1199) in 1194, he received among other gifts a daily allotment of 4 pounds (1800 g) of cinnamon and 2 pounds (900 g) of pepper (surely more than he could consume in a day). Lamprey, a popular food in an English medieval castle, was slathered in a peppery sauce. It has been told that King Henry I of England (r. 1100-1135) died after consuming a huge meal of pepper-smothered lamprey (although food poisoning was probably the culprit). A sauce served at the Feast of St. Edward in 1264 was prepared using 15 pounds
(7 kgs) of cinnamon, 12½ pounds (5.5 kgs) of cumin and 20 pounds (9 kgs) of pepper. There is a record from a single banquet for 40 in medieval England where the food was spiced with 1 pound (450 g) of columbine, ½ pound (225 g) of sugar, 1 ounce (7 g) of saffron, ¼ pound (110 g) of cloves, 1/2 pound (55 g) of nutmeg, and 1/2 pound (55 g) of pepper.

Since antiquity, pepper has always been the most important spice in the world. It played a central role in the medicines of ancient India and China, became a critical component of Roman food, and remained central in the cuisine of medieval Europe. Dreams of its acquisition drove Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) around the Cape of Africa to the Indian Ocean and to the courts of Zamorin of Calicut, where he received a tepid reception (a story for another day).

Legend has it that before leaving, Vasco da Gama dares to ask the Zamorin whether he may carry a pepper stalk back with him for replanting. While the Zamorin’s courtiers are outraged, the Zamorin calmly responds, ‘You can take our pepper, but you will never be able to take our rains’.

I conclude with this quote by Plato. “Pepper is small in quantity and great in virtue.” 

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