Long Peppers
I've long been staggered by the notion that the Old World didn't have hot peppers until the sixteenth century. (okay, so I stagger easy) Indian food, Chinese food, Italian food, without peppers! Up til then, if you were gonna make your food hot, you had to do it with ginger and black pepper--or so I thought.
Turns out there's a sort a missing link--the long pepper(piper longum), a close relative of black pepper with a hot taste and a roughly chili pepper-like appearance. It was popular up until the arrival of the chili pepper, but was enough of a pain in the ass to cultivate that it pretty much disappeared in Europe after that, thugh it still sees some use in North Africa and India.
Now I want some--I'm pretty omnivorous for spicy--I love black pepper, ginger, capsicum, cinnamon, and horseradish--how could I not desire another notch on my spatula handle?
Froogle reveals that most of the people selling piper longum on the web at this point are offering herbal remedy capsules, either to enhance your immune system, your libido, your sperm count, or your metabolism. It's also apparently good for digestion, inflammations of the nose, throat, or larynx; constipation, diarrhea, or toothaches. Versatile stuff. Those who are selling it as a spice have it ground, which is vexing--I kinda want to see the little buggers. That, apparently, would set me back $50/lb or so. Grr.