Pepper by Aketi Gayatri

 Pepper has been an integral part of any South Indian cuisine from pepper chicken with coconut milk to Rasam with hot Rice is what we all crave. I think every south Indian mom is obsessed with pepper and the reason is clear it always elevates the dish , specially my mum is very obsessed with pepper if she wants to ever chose between me and pepper I think she will definitely choose pepper over me. So my mum takes over my grandfathers habits of being curious , reading lots of books and all so our most of the bed time stories are based on history from Aurangzeb to freedom stories she covered every thing and one of her most common story was “The Tale of Pepper”. Pepper was the most looked spice in ancient Rome, and it could only be found in one place: southern India. The word 'pepper' is originated from the Sanskrit pippal. In ancient Rome, both black and white pepper were valued, but only the more expensive white variety was taxed. Because black pepper was regarded as such a necessary commodity, used by even the poorest citizens, it was exempt from all customs duties.Though Europeans consumed a lot of pepper, they had little knowledge of how it was grown. 

Pepper captivated the world's imagination from ancient Egypt to the fall of the Roman Empire. It was the most traded spice, with India largely controlling production. However, for the most part, it was the food of the wealthy - the kings and emperors - almost as valuable as gold! As previously stated, it was also legal tender at the time. This literally means that you can walk into a market and pay for goods with pepper corns. One could even use their pepper assets as collateral for loans from European banks, including the Medicis. When the Greek merchant Hippalus 'discovers' that the monsoons that nourish India's pepper vines reverse direction in the middle of the year, a fact the Arabs have known and kept secret for centuries, the Romans take advantage of these trade winds. They chart a direct route from Red Sea Fig.1. Discovery of pepper from Rome ports to Muziris in central Kerala, the aromatic source of pepper and other southern Indian spices listed by Apicius as essential ingredients as early as the fourth century BC. Then Europe will enter the Dark Ages (500 to 1100 AD) In the first century BC, the Roman Empire established a powerful trading centre in Alexandria, Egypt. 

Pepper was used in 81% of Roman recipes at the time.After the fall of the Rome, pepper trade was literally stoped but after a decade or so Europe discovered the existence of pepper again and reformed the trade. so, you know one’s existence will always shine , may take some time but people will discover you.Will complete the whole blog with a thought , If you're ever in doubt, throw a pepper in the air. If it fails to come down, you have gone mad, so don't trust in anything. -Gregory Maguir