Subject: Re: What is longe peper?

From: [email-masked] (Elise A. Fleming)
Date: 29 Dec 1994 19:30:26 GMT

>From  _The Complete Book of Spices_, Jill Norman, Viking Studio 
Books, 1991, page 52 and 53:  "Piper longum" or long pepper, is a 
related plant (my note: to piper nigrum, our regular pepper)
known in Sanskrit as "pippali", from which our name pepper derives.
Long peper spread throughout southern Asia before black pepper and
was probably the first variety of pepper to reach the Mediterraneum
In the fourth century BC tge Greek philospher Theophrastus des-
cribed both long and black pepper, and by the first century AD, the
Roman historian Pliny reported that long pepper was worth almost 
four times as much as black.  In AD 176, the Romans imposed 
customs duty on long and white pepper, but black was exempt..."

There is a picture on page 53 with the description that it is 
about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long resembling small, stiff gray-black
catkins."  There is another botanical name for it but I can't
locate the paper with it.  Several acquaintances have been looking
for a US source to little avail.  Rumor had it that a shop in
Toronto carried it but they apparantly no longer do.

Elise/Alys K.

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From: [email-masked] (Antonio Santosuosso)
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 1995 20:36:40 LOCAL

According to M. Toussaint-Samat, History of Food (Blackwell 1994), p. 492,  
"Long pepper, a compact cluster of berries and not, as Pliny thought, a pod, 
was generally used whole and the peppercorns were not detached; they stick to 
each other and are smaller than those of round pepper. This custom ceased 
during the Middle Ages.... the American chili pepper... made a natural 
substitute for the long pepper of the Renaissance, both in flavor and in 
similarity of shape when dried."

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From: [email-masked] (Jody C. Patilla)
Date: 2 Jan 1995 09:29:32 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>,
>each other and are smaller than those of round pepper. This custom ceased 

	This past week I was eating a big plate of Thai squid with basil
and chiles and found a *thing*, a stem of some kind, and asked the waitress
what it was. She said it was a kind of pepper in which the pepper berries are
tossed into the pot in a bunch on the stem. During the cooking they all come
off and the stem should be fished out and not eaten. The berries were small
and green, smaller than regular black peppercorns. I wondered at the time if
this could be the long pepper we've been discussing. I have neither the
Thai name nor the English equivalent, however.

-- 

jcpatilla					[email-masked]
Otter, otter, otter! Floating on the sea!
Eating fish and urchins, happier than thee....

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From: [email-masked] (Jody C. Patilla)
Date: 2 Jan 1995 09:29:32 -0500

-- 

jcpatilla					[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Geeta Bharathan)
Date: 3 Jan 1995 04:54:33 GMT

Jody C. Patilla ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>,
: Antonio Santosuosso <[email-masked]> wrote:
: >According to M. Toussaint-Samat, History of Food (Blackwell 1994), p. 492,  
: >"Long pepper, a compact cluster of berries and not, as Pliny thought, a pod, 
: >was generally used whole and the peppercorns were not detached; they stick to 
: >each other and are smaller than those of round pepper. This custom ceased 

: 	This past week I was eating a big plate of Thai squid with basil
: and chiles and found a *thing*, a stem of some kind, and asked the waitress
: what it was. She said it was a kind of pepper in which the pepper berries are
: tossed into the pot in a bunch on the stem. During the cooking they all come
: off and the stem should be fished out and not eaten. The berries were small
: and green, smaller than regular black peppercorns. I wondered at the time if
: this could be the long pepper we've been discussing. I have neither the
: Thai name nor the English equivalent, however.

  Black peppercorns start as clusters of green berries (actually drupes, 
botanically speaking since these are one-seeded).
  They may be harvested in the green state and used as such, or pickled in 
brine (delicious!). I suppose that the black version (peppercorn, unripe 
fruit, according to Mabberley -- "The Plant Book") is preferred because 
it is dry and can be stored easily..

Geeta Bharathan