Aromatics · Bp

Black pepper

Piperine · aroma flees once ground

Per 100 g

251 kcal Energy

10.4 g Protein

63.9 g Carbs

3.3 g Fat

25.3 g Fibre

Gluten-free

Let’s cook with it → Invent something with it

What it is for

They give the character. Same technique, same ingredient, a different trio of spices — and the dish moves to another cuisine entirely. Most of their aroma molecules are volatile.

Where it catches you out

Volatile ones go in last, sturdy ones first. Mint and basil after the heat; bay and cinnamon right at the start.

The knack

Pre-ground pepper loses its aroma in a fortnight; buy it whole and grind what you need.

Storage and health

How to keep it, and who it suits.

Keeping it

Peppercorns keep 3-4 years airtight in the dark; ground pepper loses its volatile oil in 3-6 months. That is the whole argument for a mill.

Gluten-free

Plain black pepper is a single-plant spice with no gluten.

Glycaemic index

This ingredient carries no meaningful carbohydrate, so it has no glycaemic index. On its own it will not move blood sugar; what you eat alongside it decides that.

What it works with

Pairings, and the reason for each

"They go well together" is not an explanation. Every pairing below has a chemical or structural mechanism under it.

Butter →

Piperine is a lipophilic alkaloid; fat extracts and distributes it, and it clings to fatty surfaces where the pungency is perceived longer.

Strawberry →

Yes, really: piperine’s pungency raises the perceived intensity of the fruit’s volatile esters — the same principle as balsamic on strawberries.

Also works with

Red meat

Chicken

Egg

Potato

White cheese

Fish

Salt

What it fights with

Water

Long boiling or pressure cooking loses 16–34% of the piperine over 10–20 minutes. Add pepper late.

What goes on top

Coarsely cracked over eggs, cheese and soup at the moment of serving

Key compounds

Piperin: Pungency, and the best-documented bioavailability enhancer in the spice rack.
β-karyofilen / limonen / α-pinen: These are the *aroma*, entirely separate from the pungency, and lost within minutes of grinding.

Nutritionally

Piperine raises absorption of poorly bioavailable compounds — β-carotene, curcumin, resveratrol, CoQ10 — by roughly 30–60%, so pepper on a carrot or tomato dish has a defensible function beyond flavour.

Where it turns up

What is made with it

2 dishes in the database use it.

Mains 1

Yuvalama

Tiny balls of rice flour and minced lamb, rolled by hand, cooked with lamb shank and chickpeas, with a yoghurt and butter sauce stirred in at service. The consistency is close to a soup, but in Gaziantep it counts as a main.

Gaziantep

Preserving & fermentation 1

Antakya sürk

The most heavily spiced member of the çökelek family. The curd is kneaded with pepper paste and a broad spice battery led by wild thyme, then formed into cones and matured.

Hatay

Quick ideas