Arabian Journal of Chemical and Environmental Research Vol. 06 Issue 1 (2019) 12–56 Black Pepper, the “King of Spices”: Chemical composition to applications B. Hammouti 1*, M. Dahmani 1, A. Yahyi1, A. Ettouhami1, M. Messali 2, A. Asehraou3, A. Bouyanzer 1, I. Warad4 and R. Touzani1 1Laboratory of Applied Chemistry and Environment (LCAE), Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science. Mohammed Premier University, BP717, 60000 Oujda, Morocco. e-mails: e-mail:
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[email protected] Received 04 March 2019, Revised 30 April 2019, Accepted 03 May 2019 Abstract This article brings together an overview of the historical and scientific works on black pepper (BP). It’s well known as the king of spices, and literature which is very rich showing that it was well cultivated tens of centuries ago before the birth of Christ. It was known first in India but its economic importance as well as medical uses extended to several countries. The ancient books illustrated the displacements of caravans of merchants known as route of Silks and Spices. Actually, the countries of India, Brazil, and Indonesia are the greatest commercial exporters. The major compound of black pepper is piperine that imparts pungency and biting taste to it.