Kubeben pepper is hardly known in this country, because today only black pepper is used for seasoning. Arab doctors recognized the healing properties of the small round berries in the 9th century AD and brought them to Europe. In the Middle Ages, it was Saint Hildegard of Bingen who proved the positive effect of the drug on human health.
Occurrence and cultivation of cubeb pepper.
Kubeben pepper is also called tail pepper and stalk pepper because of its tail-like stalk. Kubeben pepper (Piper cubeba) or ashanti pepper belongs to the pepper family (Piperaceae). It is also called tail pepper and stalk pepper because of its tail-like stalk. Native to Southeast Asia, the climbing plant grows five to ten meters tall and has dark green leathery leaves with a maximum length of 15 cm. They are alternate in arrangement and ovate to lanceolate in shape. Kubeben pepper has spikes ten centimeters high with inconspicuous white flowers on them. The female flowers later develop into roundish soft berries five mm in diameter. They have a slightly puckered surface and a stalk about one cm long. The fruits are harvested when not quite ripe and then immediately dried in the sun until they have a gray-black or brown-black color. Some of them contain one seed each. The spice used today in North African and Indonesian cuisine originated in Indonesia. Today it is also planted in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Lesser Antilles and India. Kubeben pepper prefers warm climates and humus-rich moist soils.
Effect and application
Kubeb pepper contains 7 to 20 percent essential oils, about 12 percent fatty oil, 4.7 percent resins, cubebic acid, cubebine, about 2.5 percent lignans, and (in trace amounts) piperidine and piperine. Approximately 52 percent of the berries are composed of sesquiterpenes, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and monoterpenes. The dried cubeb grains taste slightly bitter and like lemon. Since they contain only little piperine, they are not pungent. Only the berries, which are not quite ripe when picked and dried, are used as a remedy in traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathy. The Kubeben pepper grains, ground into powder, are used exclusively internally. For certain ailments, it is enough to chew and eat a few of the soft grains slowly. Depending on the type and extent of the disease, 2 to 4 g of powder are prescribed daily. The maximum dose of 10 g of powder per day should never be exceeded, otherwise severe side effects will occur (headache, anxiety, vomiting, urinary tract irritation, kidney and bladder pain, pulse racing, diarrhea and skin rashes). As an extract, the patient uses powdered stalk pepper in a 1:1 ratio. Mixed with 5 parts water, it is taken as a tincture. The decoction can also be used to cure various diseases. Ashanti pepper tablets are often the so-called teep preparation. 1 tablet contains 0.125 g of cubeb pepper. Even as a homeopathic mother tincture it is prescribed for some diseases (for example, in the potencies D2 and D3 3 times a day 10 drops each). As for the healing and preventive effects of the spice, the patient falls back on centuries-old experiential knowledge that was recorded and thus preserved for posterity. Clinical efficacy studies in humans have not yet been conducted. However, in an animal experiment, the anti-inflammatory properties of Kubeben pepper could be proven.
Significance for health, treatment and prevention.
The main use of cubeb pepper in folk medicine is inflammation. The terpenes contained in the berries of the plant – and only they are used in natural medicine – have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial effects. The antiseptic properties of terpenes could even be detected in the urine of patients treated with the powder. They cure infections of the genitourinary tract (kidney inflammations, bladder catarrh, ureteral infections, prostate and uterine inflammations). Since the ingredients also have a diuretic effect, they help to eliminate urinary gravel and stones. They are also used effectively for stomach inflammations.Indian folk medicine still additionally knows the expectorant properties of the old proven medicinal plant and still uses it today as a cough solvent for bronchitis, cough and generally against diseases of the respiratory tract. The resin acid contained in the spicy berries has an astringent effect and stops bleeding due to the constriction of blood vessels. Cubeb pepper promotes digestive activity, especially after eating high-fat and hard-to-digest meals, by stimulating salivation and gastric juice production. Used as a homeopathic remedy, it helps patients with severe flatulence and disturbed digestion. Taken 1 to 5 g of powder or extract 3 times a day, it relieves discomfort caused by syphilis when the patient is already in the second and third stages of the disease. However, this application is no longer performed today. Chewing a few whole grains reduces stress and anxiety, promotes alertness, relieves headaches and dizziness (that is why the berries are called dizzy grains), and generally provides improved physical and mental performance. Made into a decoction with rosemary, they help relieve epileptic seizures. Hildegard von Bingen described the mood-lifting effect of cubeb pepper in her work Physica. It has even been scientifically proven: The remedy promotes the release of the happiness-inducing endorphins and the hormone serotonin, which quickly drives away sadness and depression. In the Indian folk medicine the aphrodisiac effect of the Kubeben pepper was still additionally used. In this country, therefore, the Asian grains were also offered for sale as groom grains.
