BLACK PEPPER

  

                                                                        BLACK PEPPER

Pepper or Marich in sanskrit is one of the widely used spices in world cuisine. It is also an important Ayurvedic medicine. Here we are going to talk about black pepper. It is prepared from drying the unripe fruit, used as a spice . in India it is one of the main ingredient of garam masala, a mixture of spices which is widely used.


Pepper is pungent to taste and has a hot potency. It is TIkshna , suskshma  and vyavayi that is it is piercing and very easily digestible and quickly absorbed in body. This makes it really useful as medicine; it helps to balance Kapha and Vata dosha. It increases pitta dosha and should be used with caution in people with gastritis. According to modern nutrition, Vitamins A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K are the major vitamins found in black pepper.  It also contains minerals like Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, and Zinc. 

  

Black pepper is one of the main ingredients of the famous Ayurvedic combination   trikatu, which contains Dry ginger, Black Pepper and Long Pepper.  Trikatu is helpful in cough, cold, indigestion and even skin disorders.  It is used in many ayurvedic medicines one of these been famous Churnam  Sitopaladi  , which is extremely useful in cold, cough and also is helps in rejuvenation. This churnam taken every day with warm milk or honey helps in reducing allergies and also increases immunity. Pepper is one of the ingredients of Tribhuvan kirti which is a main drug in fever management.


Pepper powder is useful in increasing appetite and helps in digestion.  When used with fruits like Guava, it reduces   the chances of increasing   Kapha dosha.  It should be also used with raw salads to help in digestion as raw salads are heavy to digest according to Ayurveda

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Pepper powder along with Cardamom powder, dry ginger powder  each quarter teaspoon mixed with honey. This should be given quarter teaspoon twice a day for reducing cough and cold and even in chest congestion.


Quarter teaspoon pepper powder, quarter teaspoon dry ginger powder   added to hot ghee about quarter teaspoon. Then add jaggery  to it ; remove from heat as the jaggery  melts, roll them into small balls. These pills help in stomach upset, stomach pain and dyssentry caused due to indigestion. This is a traditional home remedy which I learnt from my Grand ma!

Dr, Pradnya Bedekar


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