Sichuan pepper or Szechuan pepper, a common spice used in Asian cuisine. is derived from at least two species of the global genus Zanthoxylum, including Z. simulans and Z. bungeanum.
The botanical name of the genus is composed of two Greek words that
together mean "yellow wood" (referring to the brightly colored sapwood
possessed by several of the species). The genus belongs in the rue or citrus family, and, despite its name, is not closely related to either black pepper or chili pepper.
The husk or hull (pericarp) around the seeds may be used whole, especially in Szechuan cuisine, and the finely ground powder is one of the blended ingredients for the five-spice powder. It is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The pericarp (hull or husk) is the part that is most often used, but
the leaves of various species are used as well in some regions of China.
White pepper consists of the seed of the pepper plant alone, with the
darker coloured skin of the pepper fruit removed. This is usually
accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the pepper softens and decomposes.
Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is
dried. Sometimes alternative processes are used for removing the outer
pepper from the seed, including removing the outer layer through
mechanical, chemical or biological methods.[6]
Ground white pepper is sometimes used in Chinese cooking or in dishes like salad, light-coloured sauces or mashed potatoes,
where black pepper would visibly stand out. White pepper has a slightly
different flavour from black pepper due to the lack of certain
compounds which are present in the outer fruit layer of the drupe but
are not found in the seed.
Piperine is the alkaloid[1] responsible for the pungency of black pepper and long pepper, along with chavicine (an isomer of piperine). It has also been used in some forms of traditional medicine and as an insecticide. Piperine forms monoclinic needles, is slightly soluble in water and more so in alcohol, ether or chloroform: the solution in alcohol has a pepper-like taste. It yields salts only with strong acids. The platinichloride B4•H2PtCl6 forms orange-red needles. ("B" denotes one mole of the alkaloid base in this and the following formulae.) Iodine in potassium iodide added to an alcoholic solution of the base in presence of a little hydrochloric acid gives a characteristic periodide, B2•HI•I2, crystallising in steel-blue needles, mp. 145°C. Anderson[2] first hydrolysed piperine by alkalis into a base and an acid, which were later named[3]piperidine and piperic acid respectively. The alkaloid was synthesised[4] by the action of piperoyl chloride on piperidine.Piperine is commercially available. If desired, it may be extracted from black pepper using dichloromethane.[5] Aqueous hydrotopes can also be used in the extraction to result in high yield and selectivity.[6] The amount of piperine varies from 1-2% in long pepper, to 5-9% in the white and the black peppers of commerce.[7] Further, it may be prepared by treating the solvent-free residue from an alcoholic extract of black pepper, with a solution of sodium hydroxide to remove resin (said to contain chavicine,
an isomer of piperine) and solution of the washed, insoluble residue in
warm alcohol, from which the alkaloid crystallises on cooling.[citation needed]
Piperine has also been found to inhibit human CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, enzymes important for the metabolism and transport of xenobiotics and metabolites.[9] In animal studies, piperine also inhibited other enzymes important in drug metabolism.[10][11] By inhibiting drug metabolism, piperine may increase the bioavailability of various compounds and alter the effectiveness of some medications.[10] Notably, piperine may enhance bioavailability of curcumin by 2000% in humans.[12] The exact mechanism of piperine's bioavailability enhancing abilities is unknown.[13]
Recent evidence published in the journal Molecular Nutrition Food
Research supports the idea that piperine can enhance the pharmacokinetic
parameters of resveratrol via inhibiting its glucuronidation, thereby slowing its elimination.
In February 2008, researchers discovered that piperine can stimulate
pigmentation in the skin, together with the exposure to UVB light.[14][15]
Piperine has shown 'anti-depression like activity', and cognitive enhancing effects in rats.[16] Piperine was discovered in 1819 by Hans Christian Ørsted, who isolated it from the fruits of Piper nigrum, the source plant of both the black and white pepper grains.[17]Piper longum and Piper officinarum (Miq.) C. DC. (=Piper retrofractum Vahl), two species called "long pepper" also were found to contain it by Flückiger and Hanbury.[18]West African pepper also contains it.[19]
Chemopreventive efficacy of curcumin and piperine has been shown during
7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced hamster buccal pouch
carcinogenesis.[20]
Piperine has shown anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects in
human interleukin-1beta-stimulated fibroblast-like synoviocytes and in
rat arthritis models.[21]
From Middle Englishpecemele, from pece(“piece”) + mele (from Old Englishmǣlum(“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl(“time, measure”)), taking the place of Old Englishstyċċemǣlum(“in
pieces, bit by bit, piecemeal; to pieces, to bits; here and there, in
different places; little by little, by degrees, gradually”); equivalent to piece + -meal.
Nouns to which "piecemeal" is often applied: fashion, approach, basis, way, change, reform, measure.For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.
