peponium

[Latinized from Gr. pep on.] The same as PEPO (q. v.). pěp-për, *pep-er, *pep-yr, s . [A. S. pip or , from Lat. piper , from Gr. pepert , from Sansc. pippala = (1) the holy fig tree, (2) long pepper.] 1. Botany : (1) The genus Piper (q. v.). (2) [ALLSPICE, PIMENTO.] 2. Foods : The dried immature fruit or berry of Piper nigrum , used as a condiment, whole or ground. White pepper is the berry deprived of its outer husk. It is imported into this country chiefly from Java, Sumatra, Malacca, and Borneo, and is named after the locality from which derived; thus, Penang, Malabar, Sumatra, Trang, . The ground pep pers commerce are generally mixtures of differ ent kinds of berries; e.g., Malabar is used to give weight, Penang or Trang to give strength, and Sumatra to give color. Pepper contains an alkaloid [PIPER IN], a volatile oil, an acrid resin, together with starch, gum, albumin, . The ash in ground black pepper should not exceed 5 per cent., in white pepper 3 per cent. Long pepper ( Piper longum ), which belongs to the same natural order, and contains almost the same constituents, must be considered a true pepper, although of le value commercially. Pepper has been adulterated, more or le , for the last 200 years, the adulterants being rice and rice husks, linseed meal, mustard husks, wheat flour, sago flour, ground date and olive stones, bone-dust, chalk, P. D., ., together with variable quantities of cayenne to restore the pungency. All these adulterants may be readily detected by the microscope. (1) Cayenne Pepper : [CAYENNE.] (2) To have (or take ) pepper in the nose: To take offense; to be offended. "Every man took pepper in the nose." Elderton: Lenten Stuffe, 1,579. (3) Pepper - and - salt : A term applied to a cloth or dre fabric of mingled black and white. "A short-tailed pepper - and - salt coat." -Dickens : Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxvii. (4) Pepper -and-salt moth: Entom.: The same as PEPPERED-MOTH (q. v.). pepper-box, 8. A small box or caster for dredging pepper on to meat or other food. "He cannot creep into a halfpenny purse, nor into a pepper-юх." - Shakesp.: Merry Wives , iii. 5. IMG:content-0862.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0863.png:[blocks in formation] pepper-saxifrage, s. Bot.: The genus Silaus (q. v.).