Most of the spices have antiseptic properties. With this feature, it ensures the hygiene of the food and keeps the food intact for a long time. Spices prevent microorganism activities such as bacteria and fungi in food.
Spices should be preferred because they are low in calories. Spices make the dish more attractive with their flavouring properties and make it easier to cook without compromising their nutritional properties. The bitterness, sweetness, sourness and odour of spices are provided by the ingredients in them.
It is important to store the spices in suitable conditions because of their freshness and mold in a humid environment. The most risky spice in terms of aflatoxin is red pepper powder and chili pepper. The least risky spice is black pepper.
The most important way to preserve the freshness and smell of the first day after purchasing the spices is the way they are stored. Spices should be taken in quantities to be consumed, in long-term use, they should be stored in glass jars, closed, in a dark and cool environment.
Spices are preferred to preserve the nutrient activity, prevent the loss of nutrients in the food, beautify the appearance of the food, give it colour, and increase the taste and smell of the food.
Known and appreciated since the times of the ancient Greeks, black pepper powder aids digestion and stimulates the appetite.
It promotes digestion and adds a great pinch of flavour to any dish, so much so that it is the most widespread spice practically all over the world.
Black pepper powder is a very useful product in the kitchen with numerous beneficial properties. Its best known property useful for the human body, as already mentioned, is linked to digestion.
Thanks to its piperine content, a molecule to which the spicy taste of this spice is also due, the body is favoured in digesting proteins and all those foods that cause diarrhoea, indigestion, constipation and acidity.
Black pepper is a good ally for those who want to lose weight, who should not overdo it with this spice.
In addition to improving digestion, black pepper stimulates the taste buds, so it is considered a useful remedy to help those who have problems with appetite.
Not only that: according to recent studies, black pepper would help against depression, increasing the cognitive function of the brain capable of working on mental well-being. A rule not to be forgotten, however, exists and is not to get too carried away with this spice.
It is surprising that the use of pepper has become so fashionable, seeing that in the other substances we use it is the sweetness or their appearance that has attracted our attention. Pepper has nothing in itself that can beg for a recommendation like other fruits, having as its only quality a certain spiciness.
In ancient times, the properties of black pepper were exploited as “flavour modulators”: pepper was added to improve the taste of some alcoholic beverages that have gone bad, such as wine and beer; black pepper was then mixed with food and drinks for its antibacterial properties.
In this regard, it is inaccurate to say that pepper can boast therapeutic properties if added to foods: piperine, which gives pepper its spiciness, boasts antibacterial properties, but the quantity necessary for the therapeutic effect should be much higher than that normally added to enrich foods.