White pepper is obtained from the same plant as the black, and differs only in being prepared from the ripe fruits. These, after collection, are kept in the house three days and then bruised and washed in a basket with the hand until the stalks and pulpy matter are removed, after which the seeds are dried. It is, however, sometimes prepared from the dried black pepper by removing the dark outer layer. It is less pungent than the black but possesses a finer flavour. It is chiefly prepared at the island of Rhio, but the finest comes from Tellicherry. The Chinese are the largest consumers. In 1877 Singapore exported 48,461 piculs (a picul =133 ℔) to that country. The London market value is about 4d to 7d per ℔. White pepper affords on an average not more than 1·9 per cent. of essential oil; but, according to Cazeneuve, as much as 9 per cent. of piperin, and of ash not more than 1·1 per cent.
Long pepper is the fruit-spike of Piper officinarum, C.DC., and P. longum, L., gathered shortly before it reaches maturity and dried. The former is a native of the Indian Archipelago, occurring in Java, Sumatra, Celebes, and Timor. It has oblong, ovate, acuminate leaves, attenuated to the base, which are pinnate and veined. The latter is indigenous to Ceylon, Malabar, eastern Bengal, Timor, and the Philippines; it is distinguished from P. officinarum by the leaves being cordate at the base and five-veined. Long pepper appears to have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans under the name of πέπερι μακρόν; and in the 10th century mention is made of long pepper, or macropiper, in conjunction with black and white peppers. The spice consists of a dense spike of minute baccate fruits closely packed around the central axis, the spike being about 1 inch long and inch thick; as met with in commerce they have the appearance of having been limed. In Bengal the plants are cultivated by suckers, which are planted about 5 feet apart on dry rich soil on high ground. An English acre will yield about 3 maunds (80 ℔) the first year, 12 the second, and 18 the third year; after this time the yield decreases, and the roots are therefore grubbed up and sold as pipli mul, under which name they are much used as a medicine in India. After the fruit is collected, which is usually in January, the stem and leaves die down to the ground. Long pepper contains piperin, resin, and volatile oil, and yields about 8 per cent. of ash. Penang and Singapore are the principal centres in the East for its sale. In 1871 Singapore shipped 3366 cwt., of which 447 were sent to Great Britain. Penang exports annually about 2000 to 3000 piculs. The value in the London market is from 37s. to 45s. a cwt.
Ashantee or West African pepper is the dried fruit of Piper Clusii, C.DC., a plant widely distributed in tropical Africa, occurring most abundantly in the country of the Niam-niam. It differs from black pepper in being rather smaller, less wrinkled, and in being attenuated into a stalk, like cubebs, to which it bears considerable resemblance externally. The taste, however, is pungent, exactly like that of pepper, and the fruit contains piperin. It was imported from the Grain Coast by the merchants of Rouen and Dieppe as early as 1364, and was exported from Benin by the Portuguese in 1485; but, according to Clusius, its importation was forbidden by the king of Portugal for fear it should depreciate the value of the pepper from India. In tropical Africa it is extensively used as a condiment, and it could easily be collected in large quantities if a demand for it should arise.
Jamaica pepper is the fruit of Pimento officinalis, Lindl., an evergreen tree of the Myrtle family. It is more correctly termed “pimento,” or “allspice,” as it is not a true pepper.
Melegueta pepper, known also as “Guinea grains,” “grains of paradise,” or “alligator pepper,” is the seed of Amomum Melegueta, Roscoe, a plant of the Ginger family; the seeds are exceedingly pungent, and are used as a spice throughout central and northern Africa. See vol. vi. p. 36.
For Cayenne pepper, see vol. v. p. 280.
PEPPERMINT, an indigenous perennial herb of the natural order Labiatæ, and genus Mentha, the specific name being Mentha Piperita, Huds., is distinguished from other species of the genus by its stalked leaves and oblong-obtuse spike-like heads of flowers. It is met with, near streams and in wet places, in several parts of England and on the Continent, and is also extensively cultivated for the sake of its essential oil in England,[1] in several parts of continental Europe, and in the United States. Yet it was only recognized as a distinct species late in the 17th century, when Dr Eales discovered it in Hertfordshire and pointed it out to Ray, who published it in the second edition of his Synopsis Stirpium Britannicarum (1696). The medicinal properties of the plant were speedily recognized, and it was admitted into the London Pharmacopœia in 1721, under the name of Mentha piperitis sapore.
Two varieties are recognized by growers, the one being known as white and the other as black mint. The former has purplish and the latter green stems; the leaves are more coarsely serrated in the white. The black is the variety more generally cultivated, probably because it is found to yield more oil, but that of the green variety is considered to have a more delicate odour, and obtains a higher price. The green is the kind chiefly dried for herbalists; it is said to be of less vigorous growth than the black. The annual yield of peppermint oil from all parts of the world has been estimated at 90,000 ℔, but this is probably much below the mark, without taking into consideration the Chinese and Japanese oils of peppermint, which, however, are obtained from a different species of mint.
