{"id":88195,"date":"2014-11-15T00:56:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T14:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=88195"},"modified":"2014-11-15T00:56:12","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T14:56:12","slug":"the-king-of-spice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/11\/15\/the-king-of-spice\/","title":{"rendered":"The King Of Spice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>November 14, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Jason Ford<\/strong>
\nFord on Food<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a pepper fanatic. By my estimate, it\u2019s the king of all spices.<\/p>\n

It’s been said that in the history of the spice trade, no other spice had such an impact on early exploration, commerce, different cultures and their cuisines.<\/p>\n

During the European Middle Ages, pepper was like black gold and considered as valuable as money.<\/p>\n

Landlords would accept pepper as rent payments – hence the term \u2018peppercorn rent\u2019, which for some reason means the opposite these days (ie cheap, like my first apartment).<\/p>\n

Pepper is the dried berry obtained from a climbing vine that originates in Asia.<\/p>\n

Black, green and white peppercorns are the exact same berry, but picked at different stages of development or processed differently.<\/p>\n

Cayenne and red pepper are from a completely different source; they were originally used as a substitute for the once expensive peppercorn.<\/p>\n

The spiciness comes from an alkaloid called piperine.<\/p>\n

White peppercorns have had the husk removed and therefore contain less of the piperine flavour.<\/p>\n

Pepper is at its best when freshly milled, because factory-ground pepper goes stale quickly.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Peppered Calamari<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n