Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum)

Pepper, like cinnamon and clove, is one of the oldest known spices and was being used over 4,000 years ago.

Black Pepper was considered sacred,  so valuable that it was traded in exchange with gold (gold was considered cheaper to Black Pepper) and was one of the most priced trade items exported from India to the rest of the world. Pepper was used as a currency during the siege of Rome in AD 408 and “peppercorn rents”, now meaning very low rents, were commonly paid to landlords. It is said that Attila the Hun demanded 3,000 pounds of pepper in ransom for the city of Rome.

Dramatic results are seen when rheumatoid Arthritis patients avoid foods from the nightshade family and milk products. The nightshade plant family consists of white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, tobacco, and all peppers, excluding black pepper, which has a very positive effect.

The uses of black pepper go far beyond the kitchen in herbalism. Black pepper is stimulating to the digestive system, expectorates coughs, and helps to clear the lungs of congestion. Black pepper is also added to many herbal formulations as an activator. Black pepper is an anti-kapha herb that burns up AMA (toxins). Ayurvedic medicines use tiny amounts of black pepper to make the other herbs in formulas more available for absorption to the body.

The health benefits of Black Pepper Essential Oil can be attributed to its properties like digestive, diaphoretic, carminative, aperient, anti spasmodic, anti-rheumatic, anti-arthritic, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, etc.  The main components are Limonene, Pinene, Myrcene, Phellandrene, Beta Caryophyllene, Beta Bisabolene, Sabinene, Linalol, Pinocarveol, Alpha Termineol, Camphene, and Alpha Terpenene. Aside from these components, black pepper is also rich in minerals and vitamins like Calcium, Manganese, Iron, Vitamin-K, Beta Carotene, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Selenium.

The two the best qualities of the Black Pepper are that it is Anti-Rheumatic and Anti-Arthritic. It is warming, stimulating and improves circulation, thereby giving relief in rheumatism and Arthritis, particularly in winters when the symptoms are most aggravated. It is also effective in removing toxins like uric acid from the blood, thus benefiting people suffering from chronic rheumatism, Arthritis, gout, etc.