MALABAR PEPPER

(Registered with the GI Registry,Chennai Under class 30)

Description of the goods:

The MALABAR PEPPER variety has originated as chance seedling in the State of Kerala. MALABAR PEPPER was selected from the agro-climate condition of the said geographical indication. The area of production covers all the composite states comprised in the Malabar region of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, which in the present period covers the entire South India. This geographical areas comprise of Alapuzha, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wynad, Ernakulam,Idukki, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram districts in Kerala State Dakshina Kannada, Davangere, Dharwad, Hassan, Kodagu, Bangalore, Mandya, Mysore, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udipi, Uttara Kannada, Chamarajanagar, Chickmagalur districts in Karnataka State Namakkal, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Salem, Thanjavur, Theni, Tirunelveli, Vellore, Krishnagri, Dindigul, Erode, Kanniyakumari districts in Tamil Nadu State

"MALABAR PEPPER is classified under two grades- garbled and un-garbled. The garbled variety is black in colour nearly globular with a wrinkled surface, the deepest wrinkles forming a network in the dried fruit. The ungarbled variety has a wrinkled surface and the colour varies from dark brown to black. It (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed.

Specification: Grade designations and definitions of quality of Garbled Malabar Black Pepper

Grade Designation

Extraneous Matter not Exceeding (%)

**Light berries Not exceeding (%)

Moisture Content not Exceeding (%)

General Characteristics

MG Grade 1

MG Grade 2

0.5

2.0

5.0

11***

Shall be the dried mature berries of piper nigrum grown in South India, garbled, dark brown to dark black in colour, nearly globular, with a wrinkled surface, the deepest wrinkles forming a network on the dried berry. It shall be free from mould or insect or any other adulterant.

Grade designations and definitions of quality of Ungarbled Malabar Black Pepper

Grade Designation

Extraneous Matter not Exceeding (%)

**Light berries Not exceeding (%)

Moisture Content not Exceeding (%)

General Characteristics

MG Grade 1

MG Grade 2

MG Grade 3 L

MG Grade 4 L

7.10

10.00

15.00

20.00

12.0

Shall be the dried mature berries of piper nigrum grown in South India, over varying from brown to black with a wrinkled Surface. Shall be free from insects.

These comprise dust, chaff, pickings and other foreign matter including Pinheads. Tolerance for mouldy pepper up to 2 percent.
Light berry contents to be tested by flotation method in alcohol or Methylated spirit of specific gravity 0.80 to 0.82 at room Temperature (Around 25 °c).
@ During monsoon months i.e. from 15th of May to 30th of September, a tolerance of 0.5 percent is allowed in respect of Moisture.

Proof of origin: (Historical Records)

The word is derived from the Sanskrit pippali via the Latin piper and Old English pipor. Piper nigrum , has been used as a spice in India since prehistoric times. It was first cultivated on the coast of India.

Until well after the Middle Ages, virtually all of the black pepper found in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa travelled there from India s region. Ports in the area also served as a stop off point for much of the trade in other spices from farther east in the Indian Ocean. By the time of the early Roman Empire--- especially after Rome s conquest of Egypt in 30 BC ---open ocean crossing of the Arabian Sea directly to southern India s Coast was near routine. Details of this trading across the Indian Ocean have been passed down in theperiplus of the Erythraean Sea. According to the Roman geographer Strabo, the early Empire sent a fleet of around 120 ships on an annual one-year trip to India and back. The fleet timed its travel across the Arabian Sea to take advantage of the predictable monsoon winds. Returning from India, the ships travelled up the Red Sea, then the cargo was carried overland or via the Nile Canal to the Nile River, barged to Alexandria, and shipped from there to Italy and Rome. The rough geographical outlines of this same trade route would dominate the trade into Europe for a millennium and half to come. With ships sailing directly to the coast, black pepper was now travelling a shorter trade route than long and the prices reflected it. Pliny the Elder s Natural History tells us the prices in Rome around 77 BC. A depiction of Calicut, India is seen published in 1572 during Portugal s control of the trade.Its exorbitant price during the middle Ages and the monopoly on the trade held by Italy was one of the inducements, which led the Portuguese to seek a sea route to India. In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first European to reach India by sea; asked by Arabs in Calicut (who spoke Spanish and Italian) why they had come, his representative replies, We seek Christians and spices. Though this first trip to India by way of the southern tip of Africa was only a modest success, the Portuguese quickly returned in greater numbers and used their superior naval firepower to eventually gain complete control of trade on the Arabian Sea. This was the start of the first European empire in Asia. Logan s Malabar Manuel narrates in page 375 and 382, how the English and the Dutch fought for rich trade of pepper in the Malabar Coast. John Milton s "Paradise Lost in page 31 of Book No.IX verse 1100, refers to Malabar and its rich resources. Pepper finds a place as a medicine in Charaka Samhita. There are ever many historical events linking the origin of pepper to Malabar Coast. According to Watt (1898), pepper was one of the earliest articles of Indo- European trade. Linschotten in 1598 gives a detailed account of the method of growing and gathering the spices, stating that much pepper was there to be found along the whole coast of Malabar. Malabar has always been considered to produce the best pepper.

Historical evidences of linking the origin of pepper to the Malabar Coast

3000-2000BC

The Assyrians and the Babylonians were in close contact with the Malabar Coast and were trading in pepper, cardamom and cinnamon. The ancient Babylonia had a flourishing sea trade with Malabar Coast and China possibly touching many ports on the way. The Babylonian- China connection via Malabar Coast is the earlier possible routes through which the black pepper plants reached the Far East Asian countries.

200BC-700AD

Jeanine Auboyar, author of Daily Life in Ancient India...narrates the collection and marketing of pepper and long pepper in the Malabar and export to Alexandria.

1st Century AD

Pliny reported that black pepper came from South India (Malabar) and that the long pepper came from North India.

23-79 AD

Reference to the use of pepper in the Natural History by Pliny the Elder.

851 AD

Arab merchant Sulaiman visited the Kerala Coast-recorded the black pepper cultivation and trade with China

10-11th Century

Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra, the powerful South Indian kings extended their empire to Malay and Bali islands. This was probably the route through which pepper plants reached Indonesia and Malaysia.

1403-1433

Voyages of Zheng He from China to Malabar Coast and the strong trade relationship between Malabar Coast and China.

1498

Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India and landed near Calicut on the Malabar Coast on 20th May 1498.

1500

Pedro Alvares Cabral landed in Calicut accompanied by ships and men and established supremacy of Portugal over the spices trade in Malabar Coast.

1600

Establishment of the British East India Company for trading in spices.

1636

British started export of pepper from the Malabar Coast.

1700-1800

The rise of the British presence in Malabar. They entered into contracts with local rulers for monopoly procurement of pepper and spices. French established a small pocket in Mahe. By 1800 the British became the supreme power in pepper trade the rest is history.

Anon 1969

In modern Indian medicine pepper is employed as an aromatic stimulant in cholera, weakness following fevers, vertigo as a stomachic in dyspepsia and flatulence. According to Watt (1898) pepper was one of the earliest articles of Indo-European trade, and has been extensively cultivated on the Western Coast of South India for many centuries.

Linschotten in 1598 gives first detailed account of method of growing and gathering spices, stating that much pepper was there to be found along the whole coast of Malabar. Malabar has always been considered to produce the best pepper. Towards the end of the century, Dr. Roxburgh discovered the plant piper growing wild in the hills north of Samucoltah and commended a large plantation in that neighbourhood.

Method of Production:

Black Pepper is produced from the still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are blanched briefly in hot water for one minute, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the fruit, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the fruit around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black` layer around the seed. Once dried, the fruits are called black peppercorns. Black pepper is grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding, is moist, well drained and rich in organic matter. The plants are propagated by cuttings about 40 to 50 centimetres long, tied up to neighbouring trees or climbing frames at distances of about two metres apart; trees with rough bark are favoured over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in leaf mulch and manure, and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils the young plants require watering every other day during the dry season for the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth years, and typically continue to bear fruit for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars, selected both for yield and quality of fruit. A single stem will bear 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as one or two berries at the base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the fruit is mature, but when full grown and still hard, if allowed to ripen, the berries lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are collected in bags or baskets and then spread out to dry in the sun, after the pepper berries stripped off the spikes.

Uniqueness:

Malabar pepper has got a sharp, hot and biting taste. It is a warming spice. It is one of the oldest and important spice in the world. The Malabar pepper of Kerala provides a quarter of the world s supply of pepper. Malabar pepper is highly aromatic, with a distinctive, fruity bouquet. Malabar Black Pepper has the perfect combination of flavour and aroma.

Address of the Proprietor/producer

SPICES BOARD,
Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
Sugandha Bhavan N.H. Bye-pass,
P.B.No.2277, Palarivattom,
Cochin 25, Kerala.