Black pepper is known as “kaali mirch” in the subcontinent. Black pepper is made form ground peppercorn which are berries of the pepper plant. This spice is available all year round and is native to India. Today most of the worlds pepper is from India and Indonesia. In ancient times, black pepper was used as currency and was used as a measure of a man’s wealth. The bigger your stockpiles of black pepper the wealthier you were. While the health benefits were unknown, there was a reason it was considered so highly. The pepper was loved because it was able to provide a spicy kick to bland food but more importantly it could make a food seem more fresh than what it was. This was useful as in older times they did not have very efficient food preservation methods.
While the above two benefits of black pepper still stand, the most important benefit is that black
pepper aids digestion and maintains intestinal health. Black pepper causes the increase of hydrochloric acid in your stomach. As soon as your taste buds meet with black pepper, hydrochloric acid production is increased. This results in quicker and efficient digestion. This is because hydrochloric acid is needed to digest proteins as well as other food items. This prevents heartburn and indigestion as all the food in the stomach is digested and it is not left in the stomach for a prolonged time.
The spice is known as a carminative, which is a substance that prevents the formation of gas in the stomach. As black pepper increases digestion, no undigested food can pass into the intestines. This means that intestinal gut bacteria responsible for gas and other negative effects do not have a food source and therefore cannot cause problems.
Black pepper also has diuretic and diaphoretic qualities. This means that having black pepper helps to increase urination and sweating. This allows the body to get rid of toxins and unblocks pores in your skin. This keeps your skin and body healthy. This also helps your body to get rid of excess water weight.
For more nutritional information, see the USDA nutritional database.
To conclude, “kaali mirch” is a very useful spice. Its main benefit is that it helps with digestion, prevents the build up of gas and helps you to get rid of toxins through increased urination.
