Pepper, the most common spice in the world, grows on vines. The pepper we use is the dried fruit of the vine. Originating in India over 4000 years ago, pepper was the first spice known to Europeans. By the 400’s BC, Romans demanded pepper to use as flavoring and as medicine. For hundreds of years Arab spice traders kept the location of pepper secret. Even Roman legions on expedition could not find the source of pepper. From the time of the fall of the Roman Empire and for at least another 500 years after that, pepper became hard to come by as European trade slowed to a halt. Venetian traders, however, began sailing to Egypt to obtain pepper and other spices from Alexandria.

Pepper was the reason Europeans, Columbus among them, began sailing the globe, searching for new routes to the mysterious east. Europeans fought vigorously for control of the five noble spices -- pepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.

The tropical pepper plant thrives on rain and high temperatures. Each plant produces different types of pepper. Green pepper comes from unripe fruit picked young, Black pepper from unripe peppercorns dried and ground, white pepper from fully ripened fruit.

Indonesia and Brazil grow half the world’s pepper, India another 40 percent. The U.S. is the world’s largest pepper importer, buying close to 42,500 tons a year.