What Is Long Pepper?

Long pepper is one of two peppers in the Piperaceae family, relatives of Piper nigrum or black pepper, Indian Long Pepper (Piper longam) and Indonesian Long Pepper (Piper retrofractum). Both of these are quite similar to one another in culinary use. The fruits of these pepper plants are not small round berries, like those of Piper nigrum, but 2.5-centimeter long catkins or fruiting spikes. When harvested and dried, they taste similar to black peppercorns but are more pungent and sweeter. They do contain piperine, the same chemical responsible for the pungency of black peppercorns. Long pepper is almost unknown in European and American cuisine but is still in Indian, Nepalese, North African, Malaysian, and Indonesian cooking.

Dried long pepper or "Piper longam" spice — Piper longam

The plants of long pepper are fruiting vines similar to black pepper but are more resistant to diseases and easier to cultivate. They creep over small shrubs and rocks, or along the ground, but do not climb up trees like Piper nigrum. The fruits are catkin-like spikes containing numerous tiny seeds clustered around a central core, resembling little pincones. The fruits of Piper longam are harvested unripe and dried in the sun and, while they can be ground, they are usually used whole. Piper retrofractum fruits are harvested ripe, when they turn bright red.

While long pepper has the same familiar pungency as black pepper, it has a much more complex flavor, with notes of clove, nutmeg, pine, and sometimes a bit of vanilla. It also can have a musky quality when heated, which may be disagreeable to some. By the late 1800s, long pepper was considered an inferior, and even fraudulent replacement for black pepper, although agreeable to sell if labeled as “long pepper.”

The history of long pepper confuses those researching it since in ancient records it is often confused with black pepper or Piper nigrum. It has been known in India since prehistoric times and is mentioned in early Sanskrit literature. It spread along spice routes even before black pepper and was therefore known to the Ancient Romans, who were also familiar with black pepper.

The early Europeans were also familiar with both long pepper and black pepper, but by the 15th century, black pepper had completely replaced long pepper. The spread of the chile or “chili pepper,” also sometimes called long pepper, hastened the demise of the long pepper’s use in Europe and even caused its decline in India. Although these two are nothing alike, the chile pepper is both easier to propagate and cheaper.

Pepper Doesn’t Grow On Trees

Assuming salt is not a spice, what is your kitchen’s most important spice? If you said, black pepper, then you are a true cook. No spice is more important or influential than black peppercorns in the entirety of food history. Since pepper began to be known in the West, it was the most valuable spice, ... Read more...

From around 400 BC, however, long pepper was prized by the Ancient Romans and Greeks and quite expensive. It was even considered superior to black pepper. While the Greek philosopher Theophrastus was able to distinguish long pepper from black pepper, the Roman naturalist Pliny, writing in the 1st century B.C.E, commented that pepper was as valued as gold and silver but was not clearly aware that long pepper and black pepper were two different plants:

Long pepper sells as 15 d. the pound, white 7 d., black 4d. Why do we like it so much? Some foods attract by sweetness, some by their appearance, but neither the pod nor the berry of pepper has anything to be said for it. We only want it for its bite – and will go to India to get it! Whoe was the first to try it with food? Who was so anxious to develop and appetite that hunger would not do the trick? Pepper and ginger both grow wild in their native countries, and yet we value them in terms of gold and silver.

Pliny spoke of both kinds of pepper as “it” and, although we cannot be sure, seemed to think that “pods” of long pepper and the “berries” of black pepper both came from the same plant.

Although you will not find long pepper in regular grocery stores, it is available in Indian grocery stores in both America and Europe, where it will likely be called pippali, the original source of our word pepper.

The Scoville Scale Chili Pepper Heat FAQ

Culinary Uses For Long Pepper

In North India, Long pepper or pippali is common in vegetable pickles. It is also the main spice in nihari, a South Indian meat stew, and in Lentil curries. It is common in North African spice mixtures like the Moroccan ras el hanout and felfla harra as well as in Ethiopian stews.

Medicinal Uses

Long pepper is also an important medicine in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, and Sidha, where both the dried fruits and roots are used. It is used to treat chronic bronchitis, cough, cold, palsy, gout, rheumatism, and lumbago. It is also believed to be an antidote for snakebite and scorpion sting, among many other uses. ¹,²,³,⁴