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Throughout medieval Europe, pepper was commonly traded, ounce for ounce, for gold. This irreplaceable spice has long been recognized as an ingredient for stimulating the appetite.

Peppercorns can be, depending on their processing, either black, white, green and red. That is, the same plant produces all four types, depending on the time of harvest and the method of processing.

'Black pepper' is harvested nearly ripe and dried at a moderate temprature.

'White pepper' is harvested fully ripe, so that the outer hull can be easily removed, usually by soaking. This produces an equally strong, but less flavorful pepper.

'Green pepper' is harvested unripe, and then either pickled in salt or vinegar, or quick-dried. This produces a less pungent, more herbal flavor.

'Red pepper' is harvested ripe, and then pickled in salt or vinegar. This produces a very pungent, aromatic and tasty pepper that, since the pickling stopped the natural fermentation, still retains some of the more herbal flavor of the green variety.

This is probably the most widely used spice in the world.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Aromatic, stimulant, carminative; is said to possess febrifuge properties.... As a gargle it is valued for relaxed uvula, paralysis of the tongue. On account of its stimulant action it aids digestion and is specially useful in atonic dyspepsia and torbid condition of the stomach. It will correct flatulence and nausea. It has also been used in vertigo, paralytic and arthritic disorders. It is sometimes added to quinine when the stomach will not respond to quinine alone. It has also been advised in diarrhoea, cholera, scarlatina, and in solution for a wash for tinea capititis. Piperine should not be combined with astringents, as it renders them inert.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'Black pepper is a gastro-intestinal stimulant, and is much used as a condiment to improve the flavor of food, and to favor its digestion by stimulating the stomach. It has been advantageously used as a carminative to remove flatulency, and to correct the nauseating or griping quality of other drugs, and is sometimes added to quinine in cases where the stomach, from torpidity or other cause, is not acted upon by the quinine alone.

'As a gastric stimulant it is very valuable in congestive chill, cholera morbus, and associated with hydrastis, nux vomica, or other stomachic bitters is effectual in atonic dyspepsia. Combined with macrotys it has rendered good service in atonic amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea.'