Black Pepper
The Essentials
You'll notice the heat first. Most of the effects come from one compound, piperine.
Read the whole guide on one page →Piperine greatly increases how much curcumin (the yellow compound that gives turmeric its colour) from turmeric reaches the blood.
It gently increases stomach juices, which is why it's used before heavy meals.
Grind it fresh. Ground pepper loses its punch within a few months.
What Else to Know
Black pepper is so common that it's easy to forget it was once worth its weight in silver. It sits on almost every table in the world. In Persian cooking it lifts stews, kababs, soups, and eggs. Its heat comes from piperine, and piperine does something quietly useful: it helps the body take in certain other compounds, most famously curcumin from turmeric. That's why the two spices belong in the same pot.
Known to botanists as Piper nigrum.