Pepper

Colourless liquid with a characteristic ammo-niacal smell m.p. 9 C, b.p. 106°C. Miscible with water. It is present in pepper as the alkaloid piperine from which it can be obtained by healing with alkali. It can also be prepared by the reduction of pyridine, either electrolytically or by other means. Piperidine is a strong base, behaving like the aliphatic amines. 

The spicy flavor of cayenne pepper is due mainly to a substance called capsaicin The fol lowing sequence of steps was used in a synthesis of capsaicin See if you can deduce the struc ture of capsaicin on the basis of this synthesis... 

Figure 7.7 Fj versus fj for styrene (Mi)-methyl methacrylate (M2) copoly mers prepared by the mechanisms indicated. [From D. C. Pepper, Q. Revie London 8 88 (1954).]...

Black masterbatch Black molybdenum Black pepper... 

Color. ABS is sold as an unpigmented powder, unpigmented pellets, precolored pellets matched to exacting requirements, and "salt-and-pepper" blends of ABS and color concentrate. Color concentrates can also be used for online coloring during mol ding. 

The metallic taste (12,19,20) is not ascribed to any special taste buds or mouth area. Along with pungency (the hot taste of peppers), astringency (the puckering taste of alum), and cold taste (the cool effect of menthol), the metallic taste is called a common chemical sense (21). 

From about 1815, fast vessels gave Salem, Massachusetts a virtual monopoly of the pepper trade with Sumatra. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the spice trade began to play a secondary role ia economic and pohtical influence. The demand for spices ia the United States directed the shift of the occidental spice center to New York while the oriental center was at Siagapore. 

Economic Market. The spice trade is controlled by many direct elements and responds slowly to supply and demand fluctuations. Resupply depends on growth to plant maturity, which for certain items, such as black pepper or nutmeg, can be several years. The raw material is directly affected by climate, adverse weather conditions, and control of plant diseases and insect and animal pests. Limited agricultural scientific advances are appHed to the cultivation of the botanicals, and there are many grades of product and degrees of quahty caused by different growing or processing conditions, sometimes by unknown factors as well. 

The value of imports rose to record levels in 1986 due to a twofold increase in the price of pepper, the second highest imported spice in volume, averaging about 4.00/kg. The effect on import values was pronounced, ie, approximately one-third higher, than 1985 imports. The upward price trend on black pepper continued in 1987 because the vines had been exhausted and the volume was lower. 

In 1991, vanilla beans were the highest valued spice import, with shipments totaling 69.0 million, followed by black and white pepper at 60.6 million, capsicum peppers and paprika at 42.6 million, sesame seed at 40.6 million, and cassia and cinnamon at 27.8 million. The most expensive spices, on a unit value basis, include saffron, 1116/kg average New York spot vanilla beans, 80.50/kg for Bourbon beans from Madagascar, Comoros, and Reunion, and 22.05/kg for Java beans and cardamom, 38.54/kg for grade AA bleached Indian and 3.88/kg for Guatemalan mixed greens. 

U.S. Oleoresin Imports. Reports of the USDA Hst only paprika and black pepper oleoresins by name, and label all others, eg, capsicum, celery seed, and turmeric, as "other" (Table 3). The steady increase in the value of oleoresin imports is expected to continue. 

United States exports of spices in 1992 totaled 87.7 million up from 85.2 million in 1991 (Table 4). Dehydrated onion was the most important export spice product at 36.1 million followed by dehydrated gadic, 7.5 million capsicum peppers, 8.9 million black and white pepper, 5.8 million and prepared mustard products, 4.8 million. Canada, Japan, and Germany are the principal markets for United States spice exports. The production in the United States of temperate 2one spices is increa sing every year some of this output is exported as raw spice. 

Information regarding U.S. production of oleoresins is not available. It is estimated that there is a decline in domestic production of oleoresins of those spices imported in large volume, such as black pepper, capsicums of all types, and turmeric, since these oleoresins are more frequendy produced in the growing areas. However, the manufacture of specialty oleoresins produced from selected imports will continue, and oleoresin production from domestically grown spices is expected to increase (7,8). 

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