So this spring we sold many different types of peppers, from Green Bells to Carolina Reapers. But one type of pepper we didn't have, black pepper.

The types of peppers we have are from the Capsicum family of plants, while black pepper comes from the family Piperaceae. Originating from southern India and Asia, black pepper, Piper nigrum, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning.

When fresh and fully mature, the fruit is about an eighth to three sixteenth in diameter and dark red, and contains a single seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper.

Black pepper comes from the cooked and dried unripe fruit, green pepper from the dried unripe fruit, and white pepper from the ripe fruit seeds. Ground, dried and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavor and as a traditional medicine.

Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BC. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice, and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world.

Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spicy from the capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is hard to believe that a spice that is on most peoples' cuisine today was once fought over and even used as currency.

The taste for pepper or the appreciation of its monetary value was passed on to those who would see Rome fall. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, included 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom he demanded from Rome when he besieged the city in fifth century.

Its exorbitant price during the Middle Ages and the monopoly on the trade held by Italy, was one of the inducements that led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first person to reach India by sailing around Africa. By the 17th century however, the Portuguese lost almost all of their valuable Indian Ocean trade to the Dutch and the English.

As pepper supplies into Europe increased, the price of pepper slowly declined. Pepper, which in the early Middle Ages had been an item exclusively for the rich, started to become more of an everyday seasoning among those of more average means. Today, pepper accounts for one-fifth of the world's spice trade.

So next time you go out to eat and the waiter asks if you would like a little pepper on your meal, why not, if it's good enough for Ramesses II, it's good enough for me.