When you think of pepper you may either think of salt's companion or possibly a colorful, smooth (and flavorful) vegetable. As we discussed the likes and dislikes of pepper (the spice) over sunday dinner today, we realized that no one REALLY knew where pepper came from. "Peppercorn" came to mind...so maybe it is like a small corn kernal? "It looks like a little black bee bee" was spoken. But no one was quite sure...
Thanks to modern day technologoy my sister was able to grab her handy little blackberry and wikipedia it instananeously. So here is is, straight from wiki itself:
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae,
cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe approximately 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed.
So there you go, pepper comes from a fruit, which is dried, and then ground into salt's not-so-better-half.
- Lizzie