Pepper

Introduction

The pepper plant is a climbing plant that requires a long rainy season, sufficient sunlight, and requires partial shade for best growth, widely cultivated in the tropics of Southeast Asia.

Of all variants of pepper is a fruit of pepper plant that is processed differently, including:

Black peppercorns are picked when almost ripe and sun-dried, turning the outer layer black. To produce white peppercorns, this outer layer is removed before or after drying, leaving only the inner seed. ¹

The spice trade especially the pepper (Piper Nigrum L) is very passionate in all the harbors of the world around the early modern period, pursued like a dream woman has made it very special like the figure as if Prima donna.

Source Image

Pepper as currency

Black pepper price is very expensive and the value is quite stable so it can be used as collateral and accepted as currency as a medium of exchange in some periods of yesteryear.

Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and used as a form of commodity money. The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems that recognize the term peppercorn rent as a token payment for something that is, essentially, being given. ²

Black pepper

Here I describe a little about black pepper, because Aceh is one of the exporters of commodity pepper hitan in the era of the kingdom of Aceh Darussalam.

Pepper has been used since ancient times, in addition to being used as a spice of cooking, and traditional medicine, black pepper is in great demand by the quality of preservative meat before modern preservatives are used, it is very important for people living in cold and snowy climates.

Black pepper is in a very special spice class, the piperine element is one of the causes.
Here's the chemical structure of the black pepper bioactive compound, website quotes from U.S. National Library of Medicine

2D Structure

Crystals of piperine extracted from black pepper. Source

Pepper of Sumatra and America

The early modern period, Europeans and Americans pointed their eyes to the eastern region to get the spice especially pepper. In the 18th century, America dominated the western and southern of Sumatra island on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Then the next period of the entire island of Sumatra was controlled by the Dutch empire through military invasion. The busiest pepper bases in Sumatra include Trumon (now South Aceh Regency), Rigas (now Aceh Jaya Regency) and more.

Captain Jonathan Carnes is the main figure of the United States that carries cargoes from Sumatra containing spices.

In 1793, Carnes learned that wild pepper may be available along the coast of Sumatra. In order to ensure that he would be the first to reach the spice, he kept this knowledge secret from most people in Salem with the exception of his uncle, Salem merchant Jonathan Peele, who helped him acquire a schooner quickly and would later help with selling the spices.³

The Salem City Seal’s. With a merchant dressed in colorful robes standing next to palm trees on an island, and a ship in the background under full sail, the seal is actually representative of Salem’s spice trade history. The merchant featured on the seal is not meant to portray a Salem merchant, but rather a local Sumatran, where the spice trade with Salem was first established. Credit

Unique Pepper Trade chart by a Salem navigator. James D. Gillis / Published by Henry Whipple , Chart OF THE WEST COAST OF SUMATRA between Rigas and Diah from Actual Survey BY James D. Gillis, 1834. A NEW EDITION; Published by Henry Whipple, SALEM, MASS. 1838. Salem, Mass., 1838. Credit

1821 Ashmore Mansucript Nautical Map of Western Sumatra (Aceh, Pepper Coast). A hand drawn manuscript map - most likely the first accurate nautical chart of west Sumatra's Pepper Coast. Credit

Pepper and Aceh

Pepper trade has successfully prospered the people of Aceh and has been instrumental in enhancing the dignity of Aceh centuries ago.
Ketika Aceh Menanam Lada Demi Kedaulatan (When Aceh Planted Pepper for Sovereignty) an interesting article to read is written by @keuudeip on @mapesa website using the pseudonym of Musafir Zaman.

Photo personal collection @vannour

I submit this article to @magh to absorb some information, it is because you claim to have explored the jungle of Aceh. When the glorious age of the Aceh Darussalam Kingdom, part of the Aceh forest was destined for pepper plantations. I'm sure you found traces of pepper plantation when adventuring in the jungle of Aceh. I hope you will share important information about it for us, if you are reluctant to make it in post form, maybe I will accept it via chat.

Supposedly, this article is addressed to @papa-pepper because he uses the word pepper for his account, Hehe ... this is just kidding. But if you want to respond "why do you use the word pepper for your account?", Oh ... that is very exciting my heart🙂.

Footnote and References.

1. https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/138263/whats-the-difference-between-black-and-white-pepper/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pepper
3. http://salem.org/learn/salem-ma-city-seal/

https://www.britannica.com/plant/black-pepper-plant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperine
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5030248/
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:682369-1
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/piperine#section=Top
https://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/peppercorns