Malabar Black Pepper: The Roman Black Gold

Waheeda Bi khan

Malabar Black Pepper: The Roman Black Gold

When Vasco da Gama first landed on the Malabar Coast, the already well-established Arab traders who were also fluent in Spanish, asked him the reason for his travel to this eastern coast. The prompt reply of da Gama as recorded by historians was - ‘Christians and Spices’. We can aptly rephrase the words of Christopher Marlowe in Dr Faustus for The Malabar Black Pepper as - ‘Was this the spice that launched a thousand ships…?’. So, let us trace and trail this peppery journey of the King of spices to different parts of the world.

Malabar Black Pepper Image Source: livemint.com

Just imagine food without any spices! Indian food is renowned in the world not only for its variety but also for the excellent flavours and aroma of different spices. Black peppercorns grow as drupes or fruits on climbing vines in bunches like grapes. Among all the spices, Black pepper is the Spicy King while Cardamom is the Sweet Queen.

Historical records, remnants of the ancient port and the artefacts preserved in various museums at different heritage sites of Kerela, prove that Muziris was the most flourishing port of the spice trade. According to the annals of Pliny, the ancient author of Periplus, the ships laden with goods from the Egyptian coast could reach the port of Muziris on the Malabar coast in 14 days with favourable monsoon winds. Unfortunately, in 1341, the port was wiped off the map due to floods and earthquakes, causing major shifting in the basin of the Periyar river.

Thus we can say that Malabar Black pepper has peppered the chronicles of not only new routes but also spiced the political events like colonisation and waged wars for supremacy in trade and commerce. But, the King of Spices has many medicinal qualities, apart from its demand for the piney, citrusy, pungent flavour of piperine that heats the tongue with its mild spicy aroma.

The tinge of black pepper on the taste buds is a very good stimulant for the gastric juices released for better digestion and assimilation of the peppered food. The South-Indian home remedy for sore throat or symptoms of flu is the Milagu Rasam. The spicy pepper rasam cures the itchy throat and burns up the elements of flu. Black Pepper also improves the metabolism of all the systems of our body which in turn strengthens immunity.

With the ubiquitous presence of black pepper crushers and sprinklers on every dining table nowadays, we seem to have failed to acknowledge its invaluable and exotic history. It is high time we preserve and cherish this golden heritage. Somehow this reminds us of the popular dialogue from the movie Om Shanti Om, rephrased to - 'Ek mutthi Kali Mirch ki keemat tum kya jaano Babu.’ LOL!'

When we speak of spices, they are the first commodities that triggered the trade routes on water across the globe as back as 3000 BCE. In other words, spices were the catalysts for what we today refer to as Globalisation.

The rich land of Malabar in Kerela is famously known as the Spice Garden of India in the world of exports and trading. Referred to as the Garden of Spices, the Malabar Coast tracks its routes back to many civilisations of the ancient world. Recorded histories of the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians trace the trade of spices to even the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. It is evident in the records of the Greek historian Herodotus. He recorded that the Phoenicians monopolised the supply of cinnamon from Malabar in the 5th century.

Arabs from the coast of Yemen, Oman and the Persian Gulf and the Phoenicians from the coasts of modern-day Syria and Lebanon were the first to reach the ports of Malabar and establish the lucrative spice trade. Black pepper was so rare that it was exchanged for gold, exotic perfumes, ivory and many other valuables. The oldest medieval tombstones with short inscriptions and the rare Arab coins found in the regions of Ernakulum authenticate the era of inhabitance of Arab traders in Kerela.

The black pepper of Malabar was introduced to the Romans in 30 BC when they vanquished Egypt. That historic conquest heralded the monopolisation of Romans in the spice industry for the next 1500 years. The Roman spice route trails across the Red Sea to the coast of Egypt and then across the lands till Alexandria from where the exotic spice was finally shipped to Rome. The spice was termed exotic because of its expensive route and the exchange value. The Romans traded black pepper in exchange for gold which labelled this spice as Black Gold. Eventually, the European renaissance took over and redistributed the trade industry among the warring nations after the downfall of the Romans at Constantinople.

The next defining overthrow in spice trade was triggered by the strong political enmity between Spain and Portugal. The new wave of hierarchy based on pioneering inventions and explorations into unchartered ambitions became a historical era for trade and commerce as well. To break the monopoly of spice supply, Portuguese King Henry sponsored voyages into the treacherous seas to find new and less expensive spice routes to Malabar. It was due to one such mission commissioned by Manuel I, did Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498. This nailed the colonisation of many regions in South India for the next 450 years. They usurped and completely monopolized the Spice industry for a century until the Dutch arrived in 1635.