Of all the herbs that have traveled the globe to enliven our palate and improve our health, pepper is the herb that has been elevated to ‘Every Table in America’ status.
The omnipresence of this spice is astonishing; you find it conveniently packed and ready to use everywhere you turn; airline meals, the fast food drive through, packaged lunches, fine dining establishments, outdoor concerts, hotel meeting rooms, cafeterias, gas stations and truck stop joints.
Imaging requesting pepper for your salad at a restaurant and the waiter, saying, “I am sorry ma’am, we are out of pepper”. Unthinkable!
We have come to expect our provision of pepper to be replenished everywhere we go; it is one of our inherent rights. Watch the chaos develop if a restaurant runs out of pepper for its customers during lunch hour!
This isn’t the first time in history that pepper has captivated the masses. This little black seed has been used to pay taxes, wages, rent, bribes, dowries, ransoms and its value as a commodity has been the impetus for ocean voyages and wars.
Why? Because pepper truly is an extraordinary spice.
Pepper keeps people happy.
It is the Emperor of digestive aids. As one of natures’ strongest digestive stimulants, let’s see how many belly complaints we can think of in which pepper bolsters the healing process: bloating, belching, burping, farting, constipation, distension, indigestion, nausea, stomach ache, stomach cramps, what else?
Pepper stimulates gastric juices the help with the digestion of rich foods. Blue cheese dressing? Add pepper. Cream filled clam chowder? Add pepper. Rich hollandaise sauce or fish and chips with tartar sauce? Definitely add pepper.
The standard American diet tends to be overloaded with an excess of poor quality meat, denatured oil, sugar, unhealthy salt, not to even mention all the pesticides, chemicals, food preservatives and dyes. Think of pepper as a first aid remedy for the standard American diet.
Pepper’s pungent and heating nature facilitates dispersal of nutrients throughout the body. It also resolves mucus, drains chronic sinus congestion and helps you to digest and absorb what you consume.
My book, The Herbal Kitchen is full of recipes that include pepper so it can infiltrate your food in a myriad of creative ways.
Some of the suggestions for using pepper that you will find in The Herbal Kitchen are:
– Add one quarter teaspoon of pepper and one teaspoon of honey to one cup of hot water and drink it to get rid of a cough.
– Make a pepper thyme honey to disperse lung mucus and assist poor circulation.
– Use pepper ghee to improve weak digestion and put pepper in your culinary oils to enhance the assimilation of nutrients in meat dishes.
You probably already use pepper, now you know more about why you do. Here is a quick tea for you to try when you get an annoying cough this winter.
Black Pepper Honey Tea for Coughs
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
- Put water and pepper into a pot with the lid on.
- Bring water and pepper to a boil and then turn off the heat and let sit for one hour.
Wow, what an interesting use for black pepper. I’m going to try this next time I get a cold. Thanks!
Thanks for linking up with Green Thumb Thursday. I hope to see you again this week!
~Lisa
Thanks Lisa!
I have been hearing so much about pepper lately, I thought it may be a new spice.
Nope, a well used, old spice. I think people are learning more about the medicinal qualities!
Cayanne and just crushed red pepper that is.
When I try to use black pepper it just goes right through my system sometimes cramping along the way, Any suggestions? I can eat red pepper….
Everyone is different. Black pepper is to hot and stimulating for some people. Good thing is that there are lots of other beneficial herbs out there. If one doesn’t work with you, there is always another solution
Is there an issue with cooking black pepper causing irritation to gut? and raw fresh ground pepper to be the best?
Either way can be fine, but pepper is a VERY hot spice and can be irritating to many people in any form