Poivrol

Pepper aroma

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine cultivated for its fruit, the peppercorn. The spiciness of black pepper is due to piperine. The fruit is a drupe about 5 mm across when fresh and mature, dark red, and holds a stone enclosing a single seed. The plant is a perennial woody vine that grows up to 4 m high on supporting trees, poles or trellises. Black pepper is indigenous to the tropical evergreen forests of the Malabar Coast in southwestern India. Black pepper is one of the most commonly traded spices in the world.

Its piperine content is between 4.6 and 9.7% by mass, and white pepper has slightly more. Refined piperine is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin of chilli peppers, by weight.

The outer fruit layer of black pepper also contains aroma-contributing terpenes, including germacrene, limonene, pinene, alpha-phellandrene and beta-caryophyllene. These terpenes give citrusy, woody and floral notes. Their shares are germacrene 11%, limonene 10%, pinene 10%, alpha-phellandrene 9% and beta-caryophyllene 7%. White pepper lacks most of these scents, because fermentation and other processing remove the fruit layer.

Rotundone is a sesquiterpene that imparts a peppery aroma. It is also present in the essential oils of black pepper, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme and geranium. Rotundone was first discovered in the tubers of Java grass (Cyperus rotundus). It also occurs in some Syrah wines.

Caryophyllene

Caryophyllene is one of the chemical compounds that contribute to the aroma of black pepper. Caryophyllene is a common sesquiterpene among plant species and a constituent of many essential oils, especially clove oil. Black pepper holds 7.29% of it. It is usually found as a mixture with isocaryophyllene, its cis double bond isomer, and α-humulene.

Pink pepper

The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as pink peppercorns, although the tree is unrelated to black pepper. Schinus molle is an evergreen tree of the cashew family that grows to 15 m and is native from the Peruvian Andes to southern Brazil. Its pink or red berries are often blended with commercial pepper. The bark, leaves and berries are aromatic when crushed.

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