Black pepper

Piper nigrum

Also: Peppercorn, White pepper, Green peppercorn

WarmingDryingTonifying

The table spice that warms a cold gut and helps other herbs absorb.

The dried berries of a climbing tropical vine, picked in long green spikes and sun-dried until they blacken and wrinkle. Black pepper warms and wakes a cold, slow digestion, moves circulation, and its piperine helps the body absorb other herbs, turmeric most famously.

Energetics: Hot, drying, toning
Taste: Pungent, aromatic
Family: Piperaceae (pepper family)
Parts used: Fruit (peppercorns)

Medicinal uses 4

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Indigestion & bloatingTLC
Relieves the gas, bloating, and sluggishness of a cold, stagnant stomach.
Sluggish liver & digestionTLC
A pinch in pre-meal spice blends wakes a poor appetite.
Joint pain & arthritisTLC
In liniments and salves, warms arthritic joints and sore muscles.
ToothacheTLC
Ground pepper with clove, pressed against a sore tooth, is an old remedy.

Preparations

Freshly ground pepper in food, paired with turmeric, and in warming liniments.

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Cautions

Piperine supplements change how the body handles many medicines; check with your prescriber. Pepper in food is not a concern.
Large amounts can bring on heartburn.
Concentrated alcohol extracts raised thyroid hormones in animal studies; take care with thyroid conditions.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyCulinary amounts

Pepper in cooking is safe throughout pregnancy. Piperine supplements, often paired with curcumin, alter how drugs are metabolized and are avoided.

BreastfeedingCulinary amounts

Culinary amounts are considered compatible; avoid piperine supplements.

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Folklore

In 408 Alaric the Visigoth demanded 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of Rome's ransom, alongside gold, silver, and silk. Peppercorns were found packed in the nostrils of the pharaoh Ramesses II, placed there when he was embalmed in 1213 BCE. Black, white, green, and red peppercorns all come from the same vine, picked and processed at different stages.

How to grow

A tropical climbing vine for heat, humidity, rich soil, and part shade, trained up a post or tree, where it fruits in long hanging spikes. Outside the tropics it grows only in a greenhouse.

In the wild

Native to the Western Ghats of southwestern India, the old Malabar Coast, and now grown across the wet tropics; Vietnam is the largest producer.

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