Native to India, black pepper is the most traded spice in the entire world. Here is a little fun fact, in ancient southern Arabia, the traders wanted to keep a monopoly on black pepper, so they would tell their clients and the other vendors who wanted to get into the black pepper trade, that they had to fight off fire, breathing dragons in order to acquire the black pepper.
That's so cool. We like to pick our black pepper when it is at its ripest, so the full green, black peppercorn has the perfect molecule structure to produce a beautiful black pepper essential oil.
We visualize black pepper In the grinder, the actual black roasted peppercorn, however, black pepper essential oil, to have the best chemistry, is distilled from the ripened green, black peppercorn and the chemistry is incredible.
Black pepper is one of the oils I swap with pink pepper in a cologne blend. We also ingest on a daily basis, because of the unique chemistry and effect on our physiology. This particular oil is composed of 11% alpha-pinene, 13% sabinene, 15% beta pinene, and about 21% beta-caryophyllene. We receive the beta-caryophyllene benefits from using black pepper although, in copaiba, caryophyllene concentration is a lot higher at about 65%, however, this essential oil is incredibly powerful in what it does.
A recent study showed that it affects our genes and multiple signaling pathways for inflammation, wound healing and many metabolic processes. When you're thinking about how you want to use black pepper, you want to use it really for any wound healing that you may require or for help with any metabolic process within our body.
For example, cancer is a metabolic process that has gone haywire. All degenerative diseases have metabolic processes that aren't going well, to support our body with these types of concerns, black pepper is a beautiful essential oil to use. The molecule sabinene, which is at 13% in black pepper essential oil, is a powerful antioxidant scavenger, making it fantastic to support a healthy inflammatory process. Sabinene is also great for our immune system, and a molecule we desire in our body daily.
Megan here and my favorite use of black pepper is to apply it topically. It is very warming to the skin, so you're going to want to use a carrier oil. On the bottoms of my feet, before we go for a winter wonderland walk with our dogs, I love applying a few drops of black pepper with fractionated coconut oil, because my feet stay warm the entire time.
Now it's also really great if you're looking for a warming sensation in general. If you want a warming massage, or you're cold on the couch at night, apply some black pepper, and it is going to warm up the area where you apply. Sabinene is the molecule responsible for that warming sensation
Black pepper is a beautiful oil to use in your cooking. If you desire to spice up a dish, go ahead and put one to two drops of black pepper essential oil in your dish. We love it on our meats, adding it to our homemade soup, and also in our olive oil based salad dressing.
A couple of drops of black pepper gives it that perfect spice you require. Jeff drops this oil under his tongue; however I love to put three drops in a veggie cap and take daily to support healthy immune function. When seasonal threats arise, or you're just not feeling good, using black pepper is going to help support your immune system.