A proportion of the starch granules of long pepper is of larger size, about .0002 inch, and of angular shape, very slightly smaller than rice granules and more loosely aggregated in clusters or isolated. Here it is necessary to notice that the statement is made in books that genuine pepper starch is round in form. Pepper starch is doubtless round in the main, but not invariably. (See [illustration].) The loose granules of the interior are spherical, but in the dense portions of the berry they become more angular by pressure on each other.
Chemical composition of long pepper:
| Total ash, | 8.91 |
| Sand and ash matter converted into sugar, H. C. L., | 1.2 |
| Total matter soluble in 10 per cent. of H. C. L., | 67.83 |
| Starch and matters convertible into sugar, | 44.04 |
| Albuminous matter soluble in alkali, | 15.47 |
| Cellulose, | 15.70 |
| Extracted by alcohol, | 7.7 |
| Extracted by ether, | 5.5 |
| Nitrogen, | 2.1 |
Long pepper also contains piperine, resin, and volatile oil.
The principal cities of export are Singapore and Penang, the annual amount of export being from 2,000 to 3,000 piculs of 135½ pounds each from each city at a London market value of 37 to 45s. a cwt.
CAPSICUM OR CAYENNE
1 Zanzibar
2 Bombay
3 Sierra Leone
4, 5, 6 and 7 Common Garden
CHAPTER VII
CAPSICUM, OR CAYENNE
CAYENNE pepper, Guiana pepper, Spanish pepper, Mexican chilli, as it is often called, more commonly spoken of as red pepper, is a genus of herbs or shrubs of the nightshade family (Salanaceoe) the fruit of any species of capsicum. The name capsicum is of uncertain origin, perhaps from kato, to bite—all of them having a strong, pungent flavor, or from L. capso, box or chest, from the shape of the fruit; the latter name being given to it by Broconna.