Peppercorn redirects here. For other uses, see Peppercorn (disambiguation).

Black pepper

Pepper plant with immature peppercorns

Scientific classification

Kingdom:

Plantae

Clade:

Angiosperms

Clade:

Magnoliids

Order:

Piperales

Family:

Piperaceae

Genus:

Piper

Species:

P. nigrum

Binomial name

Piper nigrum

L.

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, it is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter and dark red, and contains a single seed, like all drupes. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).

Black pepper is native to present-day Kerala in Southwestern India,and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Vietnam is the world's largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing 34% of the world's crop, as of 2013.

Ground dried and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine. 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 ubiquitous in the modern world as a seasoning, and is often paired with salt and available on dining tables in shakers or mills.

Pepper balls are paintballs filled with an irritant designed as a less than lethal self defense round.

They are not legal in the UK(1). This is covered in Section 5 of the firearms act.

A person commits an offence if, without authority, he has in his possession, or purchases or acquires

(b)any weapon of whatever description designed or adapted for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other thing

(C) … any ammunition containing or designed or adapted to contain any such noxious thing as is mentioned in paragraph (b) above

1. Not without a Section 5 licence which would require you to give a good reason for owning pepper balls. In theory they are legal, in practice for most people they are not.