Sunday, April 27, 2008

Sowing Cumin and Basil

The American edition of Uglier Than a Monkey’s Armpit, co-authored by Steve at LanguageHat, still isn't available, as far as I know. But being impatient, I went ahead and got the UK edition when I found a copy here in the States, even though it lacks LH's preface.

A relevant topic within the scope of this blog takes a little bit of a stretch.

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Theophrastus has this to say about cumin:

Πάντα δὲ πολύκαρπα καὶ πολυβλαστῆ, πολυκαρπότατον δὲ τὸ κύμινον. ἴδιον δὲ καὶ ὂ λέγουσι κατὰ τούτο· φασὶ γὰρ δεῖν καταρᾶσθαί τε καὶ βλασφημεῖν σπείροντας, εἰ μέλλει καλὸν ἔσεσθαι καὶ πολύ. (HP, vii 3 3)

All have numerous fruits and numerous shoots, but cummin has the most fruits of all. And there is another peculiarity told of this plant: they say that one must curse and abuse it, while sowing, if the crop is to be fair and abundant. (tr. Hort)

Pliny says much the same thing about basil:

nihil ocimo fecundius. cum maledictis ac probris serendum praecipiunt, ut laetius proveniat; sato pavitur terra. [et cuminum qui serunt,] precantur ne exeat. (NH, xix 36 = 7)

There is no seed more prolific than that of ocimum [basil]; it is generally recommended to sow it with the utterance of curses and imprecations, the result being that it grows all the better for it; the earth, too, is rammed down when it is sown, and [when cumin is sown] prayers offered that the seed may never come up. (tr. after Bostock and Riley; some codices associate the last sentence with cumin, others do not)

Cumin is native from the Eastern Mediterranean to India and was cultivated in ancient times. The scientific name, Cuminum cyminum, is as close to a tautonym as the rules for plants allow. The Semitic name occurs in Akkadian as kamûnu (written 𒌑𒁷𒌁𒊬 u2gamunsar), the כַּמֹּן kammon of Isaiah 28:27.

Another source of various names for cumin shows up as, for instance, जीर jīra. Both the Wikipedia and this fun book of Persian proverbs mention زيره به كرمان مى برد zīra ba-kirmān burd 'carry cumin to Kerman', that is, coals to Newcastle.

Basil, Ocimum basilicum, though now considered the essential herb of Southern Italian cuisine, actually is native to India. It is the βασιλικόν 'royal' plant.

Plutarch also mentions the belief about sowing cumin:

Ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν τοῦτ᾽, ἔφη, ζητῇς, ὁ Εὐθύδημος αὐτίκα δεήσει σε καὶ περὶ τοῦ σελίνου καὶ περὶ τοῦ κυμίνου διδόναι λόγον, ὥν τὸ μὲν ἐν τῷ βλαστάνειν καταπατοῦντες καὶ συντρίβοντες οἴονται βέλτιον αὐξάνεσθαι, τὸ δὲ καταρώμενοι σπείροισι καὶ λοιδοροῦντες. (Quaestiones Convivales, vii 2 3)

But if you have a mind to such questions, Euthydemus will presently desire you to give an account of smallage and cummin; one of the which, if trodden down as it springs, will grow the better, and the other men curse and blaspheme whilst they sow it. (tr. T. C.)

But Palladius applies it to rue:

Hoc mense ruta seritur ... Prosequuntur etiam maledictis et maxime in terra soluti lateris ponunt, quod prodesse certissimum est. (De Re Rustica, iv 9)

Is this month rue is sown ... They also attack it with curses and especially they put it in earth with loose brick, which is certain to be beneficial.

These superstitions could not escape the notice of the great students of mythology. So, Grimm cites Pliny in a section on curses (Deutsche Mythologie, xxxviii; translation). On the spectrum of “may God damn he who ...” to “damn you“ to the interjection Damn! to the intensive “the whole damn ...,” Grimm tends more toward the apotropaic and Uglier than a Monkey's Armpit toward the insulting, though its section on “Ancient Languages” does explain the earlier world, followed by a taste of Latin, Greek and Early English. In any case, it is not always possible to draw a neat line between senses of curse, and both reveal something about the culture that uses them. For instance, Grimm has this Old Norse curse from the Poetic Edda:

nio röstom er þû skyldir neðar vera,
ok vaxi þer â baðmi barr! (Helgaviða Hjörvarðssonar, 16)

Nine miles deeper | down mayst thou sink,
And a tree grow tall on thy bosom. (tr. Bellows)

And a Middle High German poem by the Minnesinger Master Rumelant containing a meta-curse:

Sô Gelboê der berc von allen touwen verteilet ist, der vluoch dir haften müeze! (Minnesinger Handschriften, vol. 3, p. 53)

As Mount Gilboa is condemned of all dew, may that curse stick to you!

The allusion is to David's curse against Mount Gilboa in 2 Samuel 1:21, הָרֵי בַגִּלְבֹּעַ אַל־טַל וְאַל־מָטָר עֲלֵיכֶם hare baggilboa‘ al-ṭal wal-maṭar ‘aleḵem 'Ye mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew, neither [let there be] rain, upon you'. A similar curse against the land is invoked by Danel in the Ugaritic tablet KTU 1.19:I:44: 𐎁𐎍𐎟𐎉𐎍𐎟𐎁𐎍𐎗𐎁𐎁 balû ṭalli balû rabibi 'no dew, no rain'. (Transliteration, translation and more discussion here; Wyatt's translation and notes here.)

Getting back to planting herbs, Frazer notices Theophrastus, Plutarch, Pliny and Palladius in a digression on the “Beneficial effect of curses and abuse” in a chapter on magical control of the rain (The Golden Bough : Part 1, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i 281). He relates them to later and distant customs, none of which, though, involve growing vegetables.

Erasmus, in the entry in his Adages, s.v. cumini sector 'cumin-splitter' for one who is very parsimonious, cites Plutarch and sees the superstition as confirmation that this is a negative characterization:

... quod olim ſerebatur a male precantibus, auctore Plutarcho, atque ita felicius provenire creditum eſt. Quo magis quadrat in hos huiuſmodi convicium, qui ob parcimoniam male audiunt. (p. 443)

According to Plutarch, those who planted this would curse it as they sowed, and this was supposed to improve the germination. This fact makes this type of uncomplimentary saying more appropriate for notorious skinflints. (tr. Mynors)

Later editions of Giambattista della Porta's Natural magick take note of it in an inventory of tricks for growing fruits and vegetables:

Theophraſtus mentions an experiment that is very ſtrange, whereby to make Cumin grow flouriſhingly, and that is curſing and banning of the ſeeds when you ſow them; and Pliny reporteth the ſame out of Theophraſtus. And he reporteth it likewiſe of Baſile, that it will grow more plentifully and better, if it be ſowed with curſing and banning. (Book 3, Chap. XIX of the 1658 English translation: text, EEBO; only earlier shorter editions of the Latin appear to be online)

I suspect that it is also covered by some of the great herbals, though a quick check does not turn up any references. One reason for this is that they, like Dioscorides (III, 59) concentrate more on the magic effects of the herbs themselves than on growing them.

By the same token, it is in Conrad Heresbach's Rei rusticae:

Cuminum, Coriandrum terram poſtulant bene ſubactam cui letamen admiſceatur, ſeruntur verna ſatione, ſata herbis purgeantur. Cumin κύμινον et Graecis alijſque linguis pleriſque vocatum. Maledictis ſeri creditum vt copioſius exeat, & qui ſerunt precentur vt exeat. (Lib. II, p. 102)

Cummin and Corriander require well ordered ground, they are ſowed in the Spring, and muſt be wel weeded. Cummin is called in Greeke κυμινον, in Latine Cuminum, and almoſt like in all other languages: it is ſowed beſt (as they thinke) with curfyng and execration, that it may proſper the better. (tr. Googe in EEBO)

The French idiom semer le basilic, literally 'to sow basil', apparently means 'to rant and rave'. I only qualify this somewhat because I have never seen it actually used in literature (or cinema), only indirectly reported in works on herbs or plant lore, such as Angelo de Gubernatis's La mythologie des plantes or the Herbalpedia.

A look through 17th century English works finds a number of interrelated similes about sowing cumin and hempseed and/with curses, whose exact sequence of development, if it is more than coincidence, is not entirely clear to me:

  • One of the Characters added to Thomas Overbury's poem “The Wife,” probably by John Webster, in the 1616 edition, is:
    A Diuelliſh Uſurer
    Is ſowed as Cummin or Hemp-ſeede, with curſes; and he thinks he thriues the better. Hee is better read in the Penall Statutes, then the Bible; and his euill Angell perſwades him, hee ſhall ſooner be ſaued by them. (EEBO; later edition)
  • Thomas Adams The Good Politician Directed (before 1653):
    What ſhall become of the oppreſſor? No creature in heauen or earth ſhall teſtifie his innocency. But the ſighes, cryes, and grones of vndone parents, of beggard widdowes and Orphanes ſhall witneſſe the contrary. All his money, like Hempe-ſeede, is ſowed with curſes: and euery obligation is written on earth with inke and blood, and in hell with blood and fire. (Works, p. 838, EEBO)
  • Nathaniel Hardy, Justice triumphing, or, The spoylers spoyled (1648):
    He ſoweth curſes like hempſeed to make an halter for himſelfe, and all ſuch ſooner or later ſhall have cauſe to ſay — propriis configimur armis, our armes are our harmes, and our own conceptions the death of their parents. (EEBO)
  • Henry Bold, Wit a sporting in a pleasant grove of new fancies (1657):
    The Uſurer.
    He puts forth Money, as the Hangman ſowes,
    His fatal Hemp-ſeed, that with curſes growes,
    So growes his damn'd wealth in the Devils name,
    That doth in hel the Harveſt home proclaim,
    For which deep reaſon my poor Muſe preferrrs
    This ſute, that Poets nere prove Vſurers. (EEBO)

What kind of curses are appropriate? A suggestion is given by Edgar MacCulloch's Guernsey Folk Lore (1903; no preview in Google Books, but complete in the Internet Archive):

In planting a bed of smaller herbs, to render them thoroughly efficacious they should be planted under a volley of minor oaths, such as “goderabetin” or “godzamin.” It is not expedient that the oaths should be too blood curdling. (p. 425)

I can only find those particular words, which show every sign of being euphemisms for something like “god damn it,” in two other books associated with Guernsey (the second one of which seems, in the snippet available, to be relating just this superstition). The source MacCulloch cites for this is George Métivier, apparently his unfinished (and unpublished?) Souvenirs Historiques de Guernesey et des autres îles de la Manche, but possibly Dictionnaire franco-normand, which has not been scanned yet that I can find. (See preface to Poësies guernesiaises et françaises, which is in Google Books).

It is not surprising that this same idea is applied by other cultures, and in other languages, to different plants. For instance, Marín's Más de 21,000 Refranes Castellanos contains similar southern Spanish proverbs about garlic:

El ajar, en días nones, y sembrarlo con maldiciones.

He oído aludir más de una vez a esta vulgar creencia, y sé que la practican algunos hortelanos andaluces. A cada diente de ajo que entierran, sueltan un periquito o un reniego, como si estuviesen muy enfadados contra los ajos, y en eso fían la suerte del ajar. (p. 144)

The garlic patch, on odd days, and sow it with curses.

I have heard this common belief alluded to more than once, and I know that some Andalusian growers practice it. Each clove of garlic that they bury, they let go a swear-word ('parakeet') or a curse, as if they were very angry against the garlic, and in that ensure the fortune of the garlic patch.

Para que salgan buenos tus ajos, con maldiciones has de sembrarlos.

Ya queda atrás en otra forma: “Los ajos mejores se siembran con maldiciones.” (p. 361)

For your garlic to come out well, you should plant them with curses.

Now left behind in another way: “The best garlic are planted with curses.”

If you know of any more, particularly outside Europe, please leave a comment.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Branded Meat Substitutes

I have mentioned before that I collect vegetarian cookbooks from different times and places and in different languages. A number of these are from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, mostly in English with a few in French. As well as physical books, this subset is augmented by books scanned into Google Books (though their subject categorization is as sloppy as the rest of their meta-data).

The rise, at the end of the 19th century, of food faddism in general, and vegetarianism in particular, involved an interest in the scientific planning and production of food. It also coincided with modern production and brand marketing. This relationship is particularly clear in the early history of cold breakfast cereal.

One result of this is that a number of these cookbooks include recipes calling for, and advertisements offering, processed vegetarian foods, particularly protein sources. Some of these are recognizable as brands in the modern sense, with patented processes and/or trademarked names. Others are just new names for a public domain process. For instance, Mrs. Kellogg's Healthful Cookery lists all the Battle Creek Sanitarium products that are called for in the recipes earlier in the book. The British Manual of Vegetarian Cookery has ads with similar lists.

The natural question is, what exactly are these products?

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G. K. Chesterton, for whom Orthodoxy was quite literally the basis of his creed, was always ready to apply his wit against middle-class non-conformists. His poem about “Higgins the Heathen” wonders why those without faith would display conventional morality. The coincidence of vegetarianism and teetotaling led him to wonder why a “Logical Vegetarian” would not drink these pure vegetable drinks. To be fair, Chesterton, an Anglican who converted to Roman Catholicism and Distributist, maintained a lifetime friendship with George Bernard Shaw, vegetarian, teetotaler, atheist turned follower of some mystical version of Bergon's Creative Evolution and Fabian Socialist. They engaged in a series of public debates with a civility rarely found today. Chesterton wrote a biography of Shaw, whose Introduction consists of this:

Most people either say that they agree with Bernard Shaw or that they do not understand him. I am the only person who understands him, and I do not agree with him.

Shaw himself reviewed the book in the Nation (reprinted in the Sep. 12, 1909 NYT), calling it, “the best work of literary art I have yet provoked,” but substantially disputing its accuracy.

But this blog is not about religion or politics, so I will stick to the vegetarian angle. In the Dec. 4, 1909 Illustrated London News, Chesterton wrote an essay titled “Honesty in Vegetarianism” arguing generally against the idea, joking “I am a vegetarian between meals,” and specifically against vegetarian dishes modeled after meat ones:

I will eat nuts with any man—or with any monkey. But they must be nuts—not nutton, or nutter, or nusco, or nutrogen, or nuttolene, or nuttose, or nutarian Cashew. (Collected Works, Vol. XXVIII, p. 437)

Obviously, these are all foods made from nuts, but what specifically?

The September, 1904 issue of Sunset magazine included the following poem by Ruth Comfort Mitchell:

To a Health-Food Girl

Hail to thee, Granola Maid!
Kumyss cheek and silken braid,
Flower blooming in the shade
  Of the Protose tree;
Pious bearing, modest mien,
Hail, my Vegetarian Queen,
Hail, my healthy Nuttolene,
  Zwieback fairy, thee!

Set my Glutose spirit free,
Lift they Meltose eyes to me,
Say thou'lt be my Bean Puree,—
  All my cares beguile;
Sway me with they grace imperial,
Say thou'lt be my Flaky Cereal,
Beam on me, while charms ethereal
  Sterilize thy smile!

See, thy Granut tear-drop start!
Swear that we will never part,—
Give to me thy Whole Wheat heart,
  Let the skeptics scoff;
'Round thy waist my strong arm clinches,—
This is where my spirit flinches,
For thy waist is forty inches—
  Let us call it off! (p. 489)

Some of these health-foods were imports, rather than new inventions. Kumyss (that is, kumis) is fermented milk, traditionally mare's milk among the Turkic peoples of the steppes. In Mongolian, it is ᠠᠢᠷᠠᠭ airaγ, apparently from Arabic عرق ʿaraq 'sweat', that is, arak. Tolstoy relied on the “koumiss cure” at various times; for instance, he writes in his Confession:

бросил всё и поехал в степь к башкирам - дышать воздухом, пить кумыс и жить животною жизнью. (here)

I threw in everything and left for the steppes of the Bashkirs to breathe fresh air, drink koumiss and live a primitive life. (tr. Kentish)

Kellogg briefly offered the Sanitarium's own version of kumis, known as kumyzoon. Zwieback can usually be found in the cracker aisle of the supermarket. But what of the rest, with newly made-up names?

To make some sense of all of these, I have put together a small glossary of these vegetarian products and the best determination I have been able to make for what they were made of, how and by whom. A blog post is not the best medium for this, but it is a decent way to get started. I fear that just dumping it as a work in progress into Wikipedia would only invite a mess or deletion.


albene: [< albus 'white'?] A vegetable fat. Edinburgh Medical Journal. Coconut butter? A Comprehensive Guide-book to Natural, Hygienic & Humane Diet.

alnut: Some kind of nut meat. Compendium of Food-microscopy. See nutmeat.

avenola: [< avena granola] Sanitarium breakfast food made from oats and wheat. Science in the Kitchen. See granola.

artox: Whole wheat flour. “so treated that the sharp, irritating particles of the bran, so prevalent in the ordinary meal, are rendered harmless and capable of digestion by the weakest stomach.” Cf. Graham flour, where different parts of wheat are ground separately. Reform Cookery Book.

atole: [< atole] Seasoned dried corn. Vegetarian Society of America.

beurréose: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

brazose: Nut meat from brazil nuts. Produced by Pitman Health Food Company. Reform Cookery Book. A Manual of Vegetarian Cookery.

bromose: Nut meat with malted nuts. Produced by Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company. Compendium of Food-microscopy. “A combination of predigested nuts and cereals.” Reform Cookery Book. Sanitas ad. See nutmeat.

carnos: Beef extract substitute. Malt extract of barley. A Comprehensive Guide-book to Natural, Hygienic & Humane Diet. Reform Cookery Book.

cocoaline: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

cocoïne: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

cocolardo: Coconut butter. Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. See nucoline.

cocoline: Coconut butter. Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. See nucoline.

cocose: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

cocotree: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

diamond butter oil: Cottonseed oil. Vegetarian Society of America.

ervalenta: [< Ervum lens] Lentil flour. Pharmaceutical Journal.

fibrose: Some kind of nut meat. Mapleton's. Reform Cookery Book. See nutmeat.

Fromm's extract: Crushed nuts with cellulose and excess oil removed. A System of Diet and Dietetics. Vegetarian Society of America.

fruitosia: Nut butter, nut meal and dried fruit. Guide for Nut Cookery.

frutose: Nut butter and fresh fruit (bananas). Guide for Nut Cookery.

glutose: Some kind of syrup?

gofio: Sanitarium breakfast food made from parched grains. Science in the Kitchen. See granola.

granola: Kellogg's version of granula. Not the same as modern granola.

granose: Graham flour flakes. Kellogg's Corn Flakes before corn.

granula: Granules of Graham flour. Wikipedia.

granut: =? granuto. The Living Temple. “A Vegetarian Menu.”

granuto: Some kind of Sanitas wheat cereal, “predigested,” so probably porridge-like. Healthful Cookery. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

ko-nut: Coconut butter. See nucoline.

lac vegetal: Almond milk. Kellogg profile.

lactine: Coconut butter. Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. See nucoline.

ko-nut: Coconut butter. Vegetarian Society of America. See nucoline.

kornules: Breakfast cereal. Ixion. Reform Cookery Book. The New Age.

kunerol: Coconut butter. Reinhardt. See nucoline.

laureol: Coconut butter. Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. See nucoline.

legumon: [< legume nutton] Finely ground peanuts. Reform Cookery Book. See nutmeat.

malted nuts: Milk substitute of ground almonds and peanuts in emulsion with malt syrup. Produced by Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company. Kellogg profile. A System of Diet and Dietetics.

maltol: Some kind of Sanitarium product with maltose. The Living Temple. Sanitarium price list.

marmite: Brewers yeast paste. Wikipedia.

meatose: Some kind of nut meat. Reform Cookery Book. Good Food. See nutmeat.

meltose: Sanitarium's maltose syrup. “malt honey.” The New Dietetics. Home Book of Modern Medicine.

nucoa: Oleomargarine. Coconut oil, peanut oil and milk. Congressional Hearing. Vintage billboards. eBay.

nucoline: [< nux 'nut'] Coconut butter. Jamaica Dept. of Agriculture. Before hydrogenated vegetable oils, one of the few vegetable oils solid like butter at room temperature. According to The Oil Conquest of the World's chapter on margarine, when coconut oil was first sold as cocoanut-butter, there was the possibility of confusion with cocoa-butter, that is, cacao-butter, a by-product of chocolate manufacture, so Francis H. Loder, son of Francis W. Loder, of Noder and Nucoline, began insisting that it be spelled coco-nut and never cocoa-nut. (Of course, this, the modern spelling, was always an alternative, but somewhat less prevalent at that time.)

nusco: Some kind of nut product?

nutcoa: Coconut butter. Vegetarian Society of America. See nucoline.

nut cero: Nut meat. Produced by St. Helena Sanitarium Food Company. The Home Dietitian. See nutmeat.

nutcysa: Nut meat. Produced by Nashville Sanitarium Food Company. Internal Medicine. See nutmeat.

nutarian: [By analogy with vegetarian and fruitarian] So nutarian lard or nutarian cake. R. Winter's Nut Butters: Nutarian Almond Margarine, Nutarian Walnut Margarine, Nutarian Cashew Margarine, Nutarian Table Margarine, Nutarian Cocoanut Margarine. Reform Cookery Book.

nutfoda: Nut meat. Produced by Nashville Sanitarium Food Company. Internal Medicine. See nutmeat.

nutgrano: Grain and nut butter. Guide for Nut Cookery. See nutmeat.

nutmarto: Potted paste. Produced by Pitman Health Food Company. Reform Cookery Book. A Manual of Vegetarian Cookery.

nutmeal: Some kind of savory nut meat. Compendium of Food-microscopy. See nutmeat.

nutmeat: Various kinds of canned nut loaf: ground nuts, nuts proper or peanuts; plus flour, usually wheat. Compendium of Food-microscopy. Modern recipe.

nutmeato: Nut butter and corn starch. Guide for Nut Cookery. See nutmeat.

nutmeatose: Some kind of nut meat. Reform Cookery Book. Guide for Nut Cookery. See nutmeat.

nutmese: Peanuts ground and steamed. The Laurel Health Cookery. See nutmeat.

nutora: Steamed nut butter. Guide for Nut Cookery. See nutmeat.

nutose: See nuttose.

nutrela: Soy granules, TVP. Modern version.

nutrex: Coconut butter. Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. See nucoline.

nutrogen: Nuts and milk food? Reform Cookery Book. But Food and Feeding in Health and Disease says like wintox.

nutrose: Nut meat from peanuts. Compendium of Food-microscopy. Food and the Principles of Dietetics. See nutmeat.

nuttene: Nut fat. Chapman's Health Food Stores. Reform Cookery Book. Coconut butter?

nutter: [< nut butter] Usually coconut butter. See nucoline.

nuttolene: Nut meat pâté. Produced by Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company. Peanuts and seasoning. Commerce Dept. ruling. Kellogg profile. Substitutes for Flesh Foods. Modern versions are just peanut loaf. See nutmeat.

nutton: [< nut mutton] Finely ground blended nuts: almond, cashew, pine kernel, and walnut; no peanuts. Reform Cookery Book. See nutmeat.

nuttose: Veal-like nut meat. Produced by Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company. Peanut paste thickened with a bit of flour. Commerce Dept. ruling. Kellogg profile. Ad for diabetics. See nutmeat.

nutvego: Some kind of savory nut meat. Reform Cookery Book. See nutmeat.

nutvejo: Some kind of savory nut meat. Compendium of Food-microscopy. Reform Cookery Book. Ad; another. See nutmeat.

nuxo: Nut gravy. Reform Cookery Book.

odin: Beef extract substitute. Malt extract of barley. A Comprehensive Guide-book to Natural, Hygienic & Humane Diet.

palmin: Coconut butter. Reinhardt. See nucoline.

penole: [< pinole] Seasoned dried corn. Vegetarian Society of America.

placomeat: [< place o' meat?] Sandwich biscuits. Produced by Pitman Health Food Company. Reform Cookery Book. A Manual of Vegetarian Cookery.

plasmon: Powdered casein and baking soda. “Vegetarian Restaurant in London.” Failures of Vegetarianism.

protose: Beef-like nut meat. Produced by Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company. Peanuts with wheat gluten. Commerce Dept. ruling. Kellogg profile. Modern recipe using other starches. See nutmeat.

provost nuts: Cereal of wheat, barley and malt. Reform Cookery Book.

prunus: “The rapid flesh-former.” Reform Cookery Book.

revalenta arabica: [< ervalenta] Lentil flour. A System of Diet and Dietetics. Pharmaceutical Journal. Burton's Pilgrimage.

savita: Vegetable bouillon for gravy, made from brewers yeast. The New Dietetic. See marmite.

sovex: Paste of soy sauce and brewers yeast. Modern version.

taline: Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

trumese: Wheat gluten and peanuts steamed. The Laurel Health Cookery. See nutmeat.

végétaline: 1. karité = Shea butter. Landor. 2. Coconut butter. Hubert. See nucoline.

vegex: Vegetable bouillon, made from brewers yeast. The New Dietetic. See marmite.

vegsal: Vegetable soup. Produced by Pitman Health Food Company. Ad.

vegsu: See vejsu.

vejola: Some kind of savory nut meat. Reform Cookery Book. Advice for serving The Vegetarian Guest. See nutmeat.

vejos: Vegetable extract. Vegetarian Society of America.

vejsu: [< vegetable suet] From coconut oil. Jamaica Dept. of Agriculture. I suppose the processing must be slightly different from nucoline; perhaps partial hydrogenation to raise the melting point.

vigar: Some kind of concentrated vegetable stock? Vigar Brawn, tomato and clear, served cold; Vigar Gravy Essence. Produced by Pitman Health Food Company. Reform Cookery Book. A Manual of Vegetarian Cookery.

vijex: Some Adventist product. Noted in a list of them in American Speech.

wheatena: Sanitarium breakfast food made from wheat. Science in the Kitchen. See granola.

wintox: Vegetarian beef tea subtitute, made from malted grain. Reform Cookery Book. Food and Feeding in Health and Disease.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Balinese Long Pepper

Something new appeared not too long ago in the spice aisle at the supermarket: Balinese Long Pepper.

Is this the long pepper of ancients, as the box implies?

Once hailed by Romans as the ultimate peppery spice, wild long peppers soon disappeared into culinary obscurity with the agricultural domestication of their cousin, the modern peppercorn.

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The product page gives more information on its source and confirms that these are Piper retrofractum. The genus Piper has been and continues to be of enormous economic importance, mostly for spices like black pepper, but also traditional drugs like betel and kava. Here is a review of almost 600 bioactive compounds, mostly medicines and pesticides, and which Piper species they were isolated from. The Wikipedia Piper page lists retrofractum and it gets a brief mention on the Long pepper page. As always, a better inventory of the scientific and common names is given by the M.M.P.N.D. and Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages.

Theophrastus knew both black pepper and long pepper:

Τὸ δὴ πέπερι καρπὸς μέν ἐστι διττὸν δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ γένος· τὸ μὲν γὰρ στρογγύλον ὥσπερ ὄροβος, κέλυφος ἔχον καὶ σάρκα καθάπερ αἱ δαφνίδες, ὑπέρυθρον· τὸ δὲ πρόμηκες μέλαν σπερμάτια μηκωνικὰ ἔχον· ἰσχυρότερον δὲ πολὺ τοῦτο θατέρου· θερμαντικὰ δὲ ἄμφω· δ᾽ ὃ καὶ πρὸς τὸ κώνειον βοηθεῖ ταῦτά τε καὶ ὁ λιβανωτός. (HP Book IX, Chap. 20, 1)

Pepper is a fruit, and there are two kinds: one is round like bitter vetch, having a case and flesh like the berries of bay, and it is reddish: the other is elongated and black and has seeds like those of poppy: and this kind is much stronger then the other. Both however are heating: wherefore these, as well as frankincense, are used as antidotes for poisoning by hemlock. (tr. Hort)

Dioscorides additionally describes white pepper, and begins a confusion that would persist for some time that all three kinds come from the same plant:

1. πέπερι δένδρον ἱστορεῖται φυόμενον ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ, καρπὸν δὲ ἀνίησι κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς μὲν προμήκη καθάπερ λοβούς, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ μακρὸν πέπερι, ἔχον τὸ ἐντὸς κέγχρῳ παραπλήσιον, τὸ μελλόν ἔσεσθαι τέλειον πέπερι, ὅπερ κατὰ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀναπλούμενον χρόνους βότρυας ἀνίησι, κόκκους φέροντας οἷον ἐρρυσωμένους, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ὀμφακώδεις, οἵτινές εἰσι τὸ λευκὸν πέπερι, εὐτεθοῦν μάλιστα εἰς τὰ ὀμφαλμικὰ καὶ ἀντιδότους καὶ θηριακὰς δυνάμεις.

2. ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν μακρὸν διὰ τὸ ἄωρον ἐπιτηδειότερον εἰς τὰς ἀντιδότους καὶ θηριακὰς δυνάμεις, τὸ δὲ μέλαν δριμύτερον τοῦ λευκοῦ καὶ εὐστομώτερον καὶ μᾶλλον ἀρωματίζον διὰ τὸ εἶναι ὥριμον, εὐχρηστότερόν τε εἰς τὰς ἀρτύσεις, τὸ δὲ λευκὸν ὀμφακίζον, ἀσθενέστερον τῶν προειρημένον. ἐκλέγου δὲ τὸ βαρύτατον καὶ πλῆρες, μέλαν, μὴ σφόδρα ῥυσόν, πρόσφατον καὶ μὴ πιτυρῶδες. εὑρίσκεται δέ τι ἐν τῷ μέλανι ἄτροφον, κεκὸν καὶ κοῦφον, ὃ καλεῖται βρέγμα. (Book II, Chap. 159, 1-2)

1. The pepper is said to be a tree that grows in India. It produces fruit, which is at first oblong like pods; this is the long pepper, the contents of which nearly resemble millet; it will eventually become mature pepper. Unfolding at the right time, it makes clusters that bear peppercorns like the ones we know; some of them are even like unripe grapes, which are the white pepper, highly useful for eye medications, antidotes, and preparations for poisonous bites.

2. The long pepper, when it is unripe, is more suitable to use in antidotes and for medications against poisonous bites; the black pepper, on the other hand, is sharper than the white, tastier, and more aromatic, because it is ripe. It is also more useful in dressings. The white pepper, being unripe, is weaker than the one mentioned before. Choose that which is very heavy, full, black, not very wrinkled, fresh, and not bran-like. Among the black pepper, one finds something that is devoid of nutritional value, empty, and light. It is called bregma. (tr. Beck)

Likewise Pliny, who also notes the relative prices of the three pepper spices and moralizes on their use:

26. … Passim vero quæ piper gignunt junipiris nostris similes, quanquam in fronte Caucasi solibus opposita gigni tantum eas aliqui tradidere. Semina a junipiro distant parvulis siliquis, quales in faseolis videmus. Hæ, priusquam dehiscant decerptæ tostæque Sole, faciunt quod vocatur piper longum: paulatim vero dehiscentes maturitate, ostendunt candidum piper, quod deinde tostum Solibus colore rugisque mutatur.

27. Verum et iis sua injuria est, atque cœli intemperie carbunculantur, fiuntque semina cassa et inania, quod vocant brecma, sic Indorum lingua significante mortuum. Hoc ex omni genere asperrimum est, levissimumque, et pallidum. Gratius nigrum: lenius utroque candidum.

28. Non est hujus arboris radix, ut aliqui existimavere, quod vocant zingiberi, alii vero zimpiberi, quanquam sapore simili. Id enim in Arabia atque Trogodytica in villis nascitur, parvæ herbæ, radice candida. Celeriter ea cariem sentit, quamvis in tanta amaritudine. Pretium ejus in libras VI. Piper longum facillime adulteratur Alexandrino sinapi. Emitur in libras X. XV. Album X. VII. nigrum X. IV.

29. Usum ejus adeo placuisse mirum est. In aliis quippe suavitas cepit, in aliis species invitavit: huic nec pomi nec bacæ commendatio est aliqua: sola placere amaritudine, et hanc in Indos peti. Quis ille primus experiri cibis voluit? aut cui in appetenda aviditate esurire non fuit satis? Utrumque silvestre gentibus suis est et tamen pondere emitur ut aurum vel argentum. … (Book XII, Chap. 14 / 7)

26. … In every part we meet with trees that bear pepper, very similar in appearance to our junipers, although, indeed, it has been alleged by some authors that they only grow on the slopes of Caucasus which lie exposed to the sun. The seeds, however, differ from those of the juniper, in being enclosed in small pods similar to those which we see in the kidney-bean. These pods are picked before they open, and when dried in the sun, make what we call “long pepper.” But if allowed to ripen, they will open gradually, and when arrived at maturity, discover the white pepper; if left exposed to the heat of the sun, this becomes wrinkled, and changes its colour.

27. Even these productions, however, are subject to their own peculiar infirmities, and are apt to become blasted by the inclemency of the weather; in which case the seeds are found to be rotten, and mere husks. These abortive seeds are known by the name of “bregma,” a word which in the Indian language signifies “dead.” Of all the various kinds of pepper, this is the most pungent, as well as the very lightest, and is remarkable for the extreme paleness of its colour. That which is black is of a more agreeable flavour; but the white pepper is of a milder quality than either.

28. The root of this tree is not, as many persons have imagined, the same as the substance known as zimpiberi, or, as some call it, zingiberi, or ginger, although it is very like it in taste. For ginger, in fact, grows in Arabia and in Troglodytica, in various cultivated spots, being a small plant with a white root. This plant is apt to decay very speedily, although it is of intense pungency; the price at which it sells is six denarii per pound. Long pepper is very easily adulterated with Alexandrian mustard; its price is fifteen denarii per pound, while that of white pepper is seven, and of black, four.

29. It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion, seeing that in other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas, pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite? Both pepper and ginger grow wild in their respective countries, and yet here we buy them by weight--just as if they were so much gold or silver. … (tr. Bostock & Riley)

The word for pepper in many European languages is derived from Latin piper or Greek πέπερι. For example, French poivre, German Pfeffer, Russian пе́рец (explanations of that derivation by Aronson and Vasmer). For P. longum a qualified form based on its size is used, like long pepper; and for P. retrofractum a further geographical qualification like Javanese long pepper. (Russian, which has длинный перец 'long pepper' and яванский перец 'Javanese pepper', also has колосковый перец 'spike pepper', which Gernot Katzer's Spice Page lists for P. officinarum, now a synonym of P. retrofractum. Also see comments.) In some languages like English, pepper is also used for the unrelated chili pepper.

After quoting the passage given above from Theophrastus, Athenaeus' Deipnosophists deduces that πέπερι must be a foreign word:

τοῦτο δ᾽ ἡμᾶς τηρῆσαι δεῖ, ὅτι οὐδέτερον ὄνομα οὐδέν ἐστι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰς ι λῆγον εἰ μὴ μόνον τὸ μέλι. τὸ γὰρ πέπερι καὶ κόμμι και κοῖφι ζενικά. (Book II, Chap. 73)

But we must recollect that, properly speaking, there is no noun of the neuter gender among the Greeks ending in ι, except μέλι alone; for the words πέπερι, and κόμμι, and κοῖφι are foreign. (tr. Yonge)

(μέλι 'honey', κόμμι 'gum', κοῖφι 'incense' (< Egyptian k3p.t). An Aldine Press edition of the Deipnosophistarum is included in the Swann sale early next month, but the combination of gastronomic and gay interest drives the price pretty high.)

The source is an Indian word for 'long pepper', such as Sanskrit पिप्पलि pippali / पिप्पली pippalī. The latter version occurs in the Atharvaveda, the earliest text dealing with Indian medicine, as some kind of berry, possibly the pepper-corn:

पिप्पली क्षिप्तभेषज्य उतातिविद्धभेषजी ।
तां देवाः सम अकल्पयन्न इयं जीवितवा अलम ॥१॥

pippalī kṣiptabheṣajy utātividdhabheṣajī |
tāṃ devāḥ sam akalpayann iyaṃ jīvitavā alam ||1|| (Book VI, Chap. 109)

1. The pepper-corn cures the wounds that have been struck by missiles, it also cures the wounds from stabs. … (tr. Bloomfield)

1. The berry, remedy for what is bruised, and remedy for what is pierced — … (tr. Whitney)

Unicode does not do a complete enough job of encoding Vedic accent yet. For those with the Sanskrit 2003 font installed, which uses Private Use Characters, here it is again:

पि॒प्प॒ली क्षि॑प्तभेष॒ज्यु॒३ताति॑विद्धभेष॒जी ।
तां दे॒वाः स॑मकल्पयन्नि॒यं जीवि॑त॒वा अल॑म् ॥१॥

pippalī́ kṣiptabheṣajy ùtā́tividdhabheṣajī |
tā́ṃ devā́ḥ sám akalpayann iyáṃ jī́vitavā́ álam ||1||

Its use is also described in the Suśruta Samhita, an important work of Ayurvedic medicine:

तेषां गुर्वी स्वाटुशीता पिप्पल्यार्द्रा कफावहा ॥
शुष्का कफानिलघ्नी सा वृष्य पित्ताविरोधिनी ॥२२३॥ (Sūtra-sthāna, Chap. XLVI)

teṣāṃ gurvī svāṭuśītā pippalyārdrā kaphāvahā
śuṣkā kaphānilaghnī sā vṛṣya pittāvirodhinī

Of them, fresh long pepper is heavy, spicy and cold, and causes phlegm;
Dry removes phlegm, it is an aphrodisiac, and dispels bile.

An Ayurvedic cure-all is त्रिकटु trikaṭu 'three pungents', a equal mixture of पिप्पली pippalī 'long pepper',  मरिच marica 'black pepper' and शुण्ठी śuṇṭhi 'dried ginger'.

Since a word for long pepper was borrowed, it is supposed that this was the first kind of pepper traded and so the first known to Europe. The same word is borrowed into Persian: فلفل filfil 'pepper', دار فلفل dār-filfil 'long (lit. wood) pepper'; and these into Arabic. There is an entry on long pepper in Al-Muwaffak's كتاب الأبنية عن حقائق الأدوية Kitāb al-abniyah ʻan ḥaqāʼiq al-adwiyah 'Book of the foundations of the realities of remedies', the first Persian materia medica, but this seems to only be online in the German translation. The critical edition of the original is snippets, which is confusing because it was published in 1859 and useless, since Google Books does not do OCR of Arabic script.

And into Chinese. Many terms for pepper involve 椒 jiao1, originally some sort of native Chinese pepper plant: 秦椒 or 蓁椒 qin2jiao1 'Chinese pepper', 花椒 hua1jiao1 'flower pepper', 山椒 shan1jiao1 'mountain pepper' and 蜀椒 shu3jiao1 or 川椒 chuan1jiao1 'Szechuan pepper' are varieties of Chinese or Szechuan pepper. 胡椒 hu2jiao1, black pepper, and 番椒 fan1jiao1, Capsicum annuum (hot or not), both literally mean 'foreign pepper', 胡 hu2 being a foreigner from the North and 番 fan1 a foreigner from the South, such as the Malay archipelago. Along these lines, 長椒 chang2jiao1 is literally 'long pepper'. But long pepper is also known as 蓽撥 bi4bo1 (simplified 荜拨), particularly in materia medica; this is also spelled 蓽茇 bi4ba2. The Bencao Gangmu entry for 蓽茇 bi4ba2 additionally lists 畢勃 bi4bo2, all of which suggests that the word is borrowed. And in fact, the entry says that in the language of 摩伽陀 mo2jia1tuo2 (Māgadha; in other words, in Māgadhī Prākrit), it is called 蓽撥梨 bi4bo1li2. Which is to say, पिप्पली pippalī. (At least in Pāli, this is pipphalī, with unetymological aspiration, which Geiger says is not rare: the word occurs, for instance, in the “Godha-Jātaka” 'Iguana Birth-Story', where the future Buddha has been reborn as a lizard and meets a wicked ascetic who has developed a taste for lizard meat, which he means to so season; text; translation.) It also says that in 拂林 fu2lin2 (Constantinople), it is called 阿梨訶陀 a1li2he1tou2. The entry further mentions the derivative medicine 蓽勃沒 bi4bo2mo4, which is presumably पिप्पलीमूल pippalī-mūla, literally 'long pepper root'.

It is hard to overestimate the importance of spices, and pepper in particular, in long-distance trade, exploration, and imperialism. So Persius:

Mercibus hic Italis mutat, sub sole recenti,
Rugosum piper, et pallentis grana cumini: (Sat. V, 55-56)

The greedy merchants, led by lucre, run
To the parch'd Indies, and the rising sun;
From thence hot pepper and rich drugs they bear,
Bart'ring for spices their Italian ware; (tr. Dryden)

In Sanskrit, यवनप्रिय yavanapriya 'dear to Yavanas (literally, Ionians, that is, Greeks, that is, Western foreigners)' refers to pepper and यवनेष्ट yavaneṣṭa 'liked by Yavanas' to onion, garlic, neem and lead as well as pepper. In the sense of pepper, the latter appears in Tamil as இவனட்டம் ivaṉaṭṭam. The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, from the mid 1st century, lists long pepper among the products available from northwest India around Barygaza (Βαρύγαζα; 49, 16; sort-of translation) and black pepper from southwest in Muziris and Nelcynda (Μουζιρίς / Νέλκυνδα; 56, 18; translation). A poem in the Tamil Akanāṉūṟu of about the same time describes the vessels of the Yavanas (யவனர் yavaṉar) in Muziris (முசிறி muciṟi), “பொன்னொடு வந்து கறியொடு பெயரும் poṉṉoṭu vantu kaṟiyoṭu peyarum 'arriving with gold, returning with pepper'” (149, 10; a similar image is in the புறநானூறு Puṟanāṉūṟu 343, 3-5, translation).

When Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut on May 20, 1498, he sent ashore one of the recently converted convicts brought for that purpose, who being asked by some Moors why they had come so far, responded, “Vimos buscar cristãos e especiaria 'we came in search of Christians and spice'.” (Diário; translation; the conversation supposedly actually took place in Castilian; strangely enough, a number of works related to perfume report that da Gama's men called out “Christos e espiciarias” in the sense of 'for Christ and spices', but that seems suspect to me). Later, when it was time for a hasty departure before the regular arrival of some Arab ships that posed a threat, he makes sure to take some pepper. According to Camões' Os_Lusíadas:

Leva alguns Malabares, que tomou
Por força, dos que o Samorim mandara
Quando os presos feitores lhe tornou;
Leva pimenta ardente, que comprara;
A seca flor de Banda não ficou,
A noz, e o negro cravo, que faz clara
A nova ilha Maluco, com a canela,
Com que Ceilão é rica, ilustre e bela. (Canto IX, 14)

He taketh eke some Malabars aboard
    parforce, the fellows by the Samorim sent
    when were the Factor-pris'oners restor'd:
    Of purchased stores he taketh hot piment:
    Nor is of Banda the dried flow'er ignor'd,
    nutmeg and swarthy clove, which excellent
makes New Malucan Isle, with cinnamon
the wealth, the boast, the beauty of Ceylon. (tr. Burton)

On Jan. 28, 1793, Britain entered into a “Pepper Contract” with the Rajah of Travancore, which mostly amounted to a regular trade of pepper for guns and ammunition.

With exploration came greater knowledge of the pepper plants themselves. In 522, Cosmas Indicopleustes visited the Malabar Coast. (Overzealous linking in Wikipedia had confused Cosmas' calling Malabar Male with Malé in the Maldives.) He writes:

Τοῦτο τὸ δένδρον ἐστὶ τὸ τοῦ πιπέρεως·
ἕκαστον δὲ δένδρον ἑτέρῳ ὑψηλῷ ἀκάρπῳ δένδρῳ ἀνακλᾶται διὰ τὸ λεπτὸν εἶναι πάνυ καὶ ἀσθενές, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ κλήματα τῆς ἀμπέλου λεπτά·
ἕκαστος δὲ βότρυς δίφυλλον ἔχει σκέπον·
χλωρὸν δὲ πάνυ ἐστίν, ὥσπερ ἡ χρόα τοῦ πηγάνου.
(Topographia Christiana, 11, 10)

This is a picture of the tree which produces pepper. Each separate stem being very weak and limp twines itself, like the slender tendrils of the vine, around some lofty tree which bears no fruit. And every cluster of the fruit is protected by a double leaf. It is of a deep green colour like that of rue. (tr. McCrindle)

The work of a 10th century herbalist who wrote under the name of Macer Floridus published as De viribus herbarum in 1477 continues to recognize three kinds:

Virtutis siccæ piper asseritur calidæque,
Tertius esse gradus conceditur huic in utroque.
Tres sunt huic species : album, longumque, nigrumque; (1477 edition; later with more legible scan)

Pepper claims dry and hot virtue,
It is accepted to be both of the third degree in both these.
There are three kinds: white, long and black;

The Anglo-Saxon medical text known as Bald's Leechbook includes a remedy with both pepper and long pepper, indicating how broad the trade was in Europe:

ı ſcal ƿıð aaoum maan · ním hunı ⁊ c oæ mn ⁊ bann pıpo l ón monn cucl uln nahnıum nyı ſcapa ıncna· ⁊ ma· ⁊ æ baþ mı ſınop nı ⁊ mƿ. l hím ác nahnıum þı · nım c ƿıþ lænan mn hƿæthƿa ⁊ lan pıpo .x. con oþþ coppan ⁊ ſnp mn all oæ · ⁊ ıolı l nıhnſıum an cucl mæl · þnc ðu þonn hƿæþn  all þa æ nmnan læcoma ⁊ þa æ ƿınan n ſculon ón an þa o lan bón o on ác ſculon æc habban bonum ⁊ ſ · hƿılum n aaſ hƿılum ƿy · ⁊ þonn hım món blo læ ón æ ón þam aúm n o hím mon nann oþn læcóm o · nymþ ymb .v. nıh oþþ ma. (Book II, Chap. 7; I am using the Junicode font for the MUFI PUA, even though its philosophy is somewhat un-Unicode)

This shall apply for a deadened maw; take some honey and vinegar mingled together, and pepper beaten up, give in the morning a spoon full of it to the man after his nights fast, let him employ sharp drinks and meats; and at the bath let him rub and smear himself with mustard. Give him also, after his nights fast, this: take vinegar mingled with somewhat of gladden, and of long pepper ten corns or clusters, and mustard; mingle all together, and triturate; give him after a nights fasting, one spoon measure. Then consider thou, notwithstanding, that all the aforenamed leechdoms and the after written ones, shall not be to be done at one too long season, but must have space and rest between them, whilom two days, whilom three; and when one lets him blood on a vein, on those days let none other leechdom be done to him, except about five days later or more. (tr. Cockayne)

Simon Januensis, a lexicographer and court physician to Nicholas IV, wrote a dictionary of medicine titled Clavis Sanationis or Synonyma medicinae in 1292; it was first printed in 1473. He lists synonyms for longum piper, Greek macropiper and Arabic darfulfel.

Sir John Mandeville has much to say that is interesting, if not credible. From an early English translation (in a Midlands dialect; none of the French versions seems to be readily available):

And ȝee schulle undirstonde, þat þe Peper groweþe, in maner as doþe a wylde Vyne, þat is planted faste by þe Trees of þat Wode, for to susteynen it by, as doþe þe Vyne. And þe Fruyt þereof hangeþe in manere as Reysynges. And þe Tree is so þikke charged, þat it semeþe þat it wolde breke: and whan it is ripe, it is all grene as it were Ivy Beryes; and þan men kytten hem, as men don þe Vynes, and þan þei putten it upon an Owven, and þere it waxeþe blak and crisp. And þere is 3 maner of Peper, all upon o Tree; long Peper, blak Peper, and white Peper. Þe long Peper men clepen Sorbotyn; and þe blak Peper is clept Fulfulle, and þe white Peper is clept Bano. Þe long Peper comeþe first, whanþe Lef begynheþe to come; and it is lyche þe Chattes of Haselle, þat comeþe before þe Lef, and it hangeþe lowe. And aftre comeþe þe blake wiþ þe Lef, in manere of Clustres of Reysinges, alle grene: and whan men han gadred it, þan comeþe þe white, þat is somdelle lasse þan þe blake; and of þat men bryngen but litille into þis Contree; for þei beȝonden wiþ holden it for hem self, be cause it is betere and more attempree in kynde, þan þe blake: and þerfore is þer not so gret plentee as of þe blake. In þat contree ben manye manere of Serpentes and of oþer Vermyn, for þe gret hete of þe Contree and of þe Peper. And sūme men seyn, þat whan þei will gadre þe Peper, þei maken Fuyr, and brennen aboute, to make þe Serpentes and Cokedrilles to flee. But save here grace of alle þat seyn so. For ȝif þei brenten abouten þe Trees, þat beren, þe Peper scholden ben brent, and it wolde dryen up alle þe vertue, as of ony oþer þing: and han þei diden hemself moche harm; and þei scholde nevere quenchen þe Fuyr. But þus þei don; þei anoynten here Hondes and here Feet wiþ a juyce made of Snayles and of oþere þinges, made þerfore; of þe whiche þe Serpentes and þe venymous Bestes haten and dreden þe Savour: and þat makeþe hem flee before hem, because of þe smelle; and þan þei gadren it seurly ynow. (p. 168 of Halliwell's 1839 reprint of the 1725 edition, with z restored to ȝ and th to þ, per Vogel; edition with modernized spelling; there don't seem to be any actual facsimiles of Cotton Titus C. xvi around)

As outlined above, all three kinds of pepper from one tree was what the ancients believed. Of sorbotin, fulful, and bano, only the second is recognizable as the word for pepper; I have not seen any theories for either the literary source or the intended source language of the other two.

As for serpents guarding the pepper, the use of fire to chase them away and heat causing black pepper to turn black, much of it is in Odoric, Mandeville's primary source:

Now in this country they get the pepper in this manner. First, then, it groweth on plants which have leaves like ivy, and these are planted against tall trees as our vines are here, and bear fruit just like bunches of grapes; and this fruit is borne in such quantities that they seem like to break under it. And when the fruit is ripe it is of a green colour, and 'tis gathered just as grapes are gathered at the vintage, and then put in the sun to dry. And when it is dried it is stored in jars [and of the fresh pepper also they make a confection, of which I had to eat, and plenty of it]. And in this forest also there be rivers in which be many evil crocodiles, i.e. serpents. [And there be many other kinds of serpents in the forest, which the men burn by kindling tow and straw, and so they are enabled to go safely to gather pepper.] [And here there be lions in great numbers, and a variety of beasts which are not found in our Frank countries. And here they burn the brazil-wood for fuel, and in the woods are numbers of wild peacocks.] (tr. Yule)

Yule's translation is a synthesis of several originals: a Latin MS in the BNF, included as Appendix I; an Old Italian MS in the Biblioteca Palatina, included as Appendix II; another Latin  text published by Hakluyt; and Cordier's edition of an Old French MS. The appendices are in the same volume (II) of the Indian reprint (similar to one I have) as the above preview, but they are also in a separate volume of an older edition with full view, which is where those links go, though the English volume of that set does not seem to have been scanned. Google's scan of the Old French only has the introductory section, either because it was separately bound in the set scanned or because the scan's pagination is messed up; there aren't enough pages in the scan to account for the number given in the Google Books meta-data, either. Yule's footnotes 3 and 4 are backwards: the first text, mentioning “forest,” is from Hakluyt and the other one from Palantina. Anyway.

All the texts have crocodiles, variously cocoldrigae, crocodili, cocodrilli, cochodrillos, and cocolgrilli. The Italian mentions the candy and lions and peacocks:

E del pepe ricente fanno composto e io ne mangiai, ed ebbine assai. … e leoni in grande moltitudine, e diverse bestie che non sono in Franchia. Qui si arde il verzino per legne, e tutti i boschi son pieni di paoni salvatichi. (preview)

And the Hakluyt Latin burning the forest:

In isto autem nemore sunt flumina multa in quibus sunt Crocodili multi, & multi alii serpentes sunt in illo nemore, quos homines per stupam & paleas comburunt, & sic ad colligendum piper secure accedunt. (here)

The basic outline of this process of gathering pepper into the three kinds was well known; for instance, the encyclopedist Bartholomaeus Anglicus:

Piper est semen vel fructus arboris ut fruticis in meriodionali parte caucasi montis crescentis contra fervidum aestum solis. ut dicit Isidorus liber xvij cuius folia junipero sunt similia / cuius siluas serpentes custodiunt; sed incole regionis illius cum silue maturae fuerint / eas incendunt, et serpentes ignis violentia effugantur & ex huius combustione grana piperis que naturaliter erant alba / effiaunt nigra accidentaliter & rugosa. Cuius triplex est species ut dicit idem. Nam est piper longum species quod est imaturum & piper album species quod ab igne incorruptum. & piper nigrum quod torrido calore ignis nigrum est in superficie & rugosum. (Book 17)

Pepir hyghte piper: and is a ſede other the fruyte of a tree that growyth in the ſouth ſide of the hyll mount Caucaſus, in the ſtronge hete of the ſun, as Dyaſcorides ſayth. .li xvij. /  The leuys therof ben lyke to leuys of Juniperus. And ſerpentes kepe the wodes that pepyr growyth in. And whan the wodes of pepper ben rype: men of that countree ſettyth them on fyre, & chacyth awaye ſerpentes by vyolence of fyre/ And by ſuche brennyng the greyne of pepyr yͭ was white by kynde is made blacke and ryuely. And of pepyr ben thre manere kyndes as he ſayth / for ſome pepyr is longe: and that is not rype. Some is whyte: and that is not corrupt by fyre ne blemyſhed wyth fyre. And ſome is blacke and ryvelyd wythout wyth perchynge & roſtynge of the hete of yͤ fyre. (tr. Trevisa in EEBO)

Which is essentially the same as Bartholomaeus' named source, Isidore_of_Seville's Etymologies, which also proposes an etymology of piper / πέπερι:

Piperis arbor nascitur in India, in latere montis Caucasi, quod soli obversum est, folia iuniperi similitudine. Cuius silvas serpentes custodiunt, sed incolae regionis illius, quum maturae fuerint, incendunt, et serpentes igni fugantur; et inde ex flamma nigrum piper efficitur. Nam natura piperis alba est, cuius quidem diversus est fructus. Nam quod inmaturum est, piper longum vocatur, quod incorruptum ab igni, piper album; quod vero cute rugosa et horrida fuerit, ex calore ignis trahit et colorem et nomen. Piper si leve est, vetustum est; si grave, novellum. Vitanda est autem mercatorum fraus; solent enim vetustissimo piperi humecto argenti spumam aut plumbum aspargere ut ponderosum fiat. (Book XVII, Chap. 8, p. 87 of an early printed version; also etext)

The pepper tree (piper) grows in India, on the side of the Caucasian range that faces the sun. Its leaves are like the juniper's. Serpents protect the pepper groves, but the inhabitants of that region, when the peppers ripen, burn them, and the serpents are put to flight by the fire - and from this flame the pepper, which is naturally white, is made black. In fact there are several kinds of pepper fruits. The unripe kind is called 'long pepper'; that unaffected by fire, ‘white pepper’; but that which has a wrinkled and bristly skin takes both its color (i.e. ‘black’) and its name (cf. πῦρ, “fire”) from the heat of the fire. If a pepper is light in weight it is old; if heavy, it is fresh. But the fraud of the merchants should be guarded against, for they are wont to sprinkle litharge or lead over very old, moistened pepper to make it heavy. (tr. Barney)

A less fanciful traveler's account is given by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela:

הַפִּלְפֵּל שֶׁהֵם נוֹטְעִים הָאִילָנוֹת שֶׁלָּהֶם עַל פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה כָּל הָעִיר וְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מֵהֶם יוֹדֵעַ פַּרְדֵּסוֹ וְאִילָנוֹת קְטַנּוֹת הֵן וְהַפִּלְפֵּל לָבָן הוּא אֲבָל כְּשֶׁלּוֹקְטִין אוֹתוֹ מְשִׂימִין אוֹתוֹ בָּאַגָּנוֹת וְנוֹתְנִין עָלָיו מַיִם הַמִּים וּמְיַבְּשִׁין אוֹתוֹ לַשֶּׁמֶשׁ כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּתְחַוֵּק וְיִתְקַיֵּים וְהוּא חוֹזֵר שָׁחוֹר (p. 91.1)

hapilpēl šehēm nōṭʻīm hāʼīlānōṯ šellāhem ʻal pənēy haśśāḏeh kāl hāʻīr wəḵāl eḥāḏ wəʼeḥāḏ mēhem yōḏēʻa pardēsō wəīlānōṯ qəṭannōṯ hēn wəhapilpēl lāḇān hūʼ ăḇāl kəšellōqəṭīn ōṯō məśīmīn ōṯō bāʼagānōṯ wənōṯənīn ʻālāyw mayim hammīm ūməyabšīn ōṯō laššemeš kəḏēy šeyīṯəḥawēq wəyiṯqayēym wəhūʼ ḥōzēr šāḥōr

The pepper grows in this country; the trees, which bear this fruit are planted in the fields, which surround the towns, and every one knows his plantation. The trees are small and the pepper is originally white, but when they collect it, they put it into basins and pour hot water upon it; it is then exposed to the heat of the sun and dried in order to make it hard and more substantial, in the course of which process it becomes of a black colour. (tr. Asher)

The idea of burning was widespread enough that it had to be addressed by Ibn Battuta:

والعامة ببلادنا يزعمون أنّهم يقلونه بالنار وبسبب ذلك يحدث فيه التكريش وليس كذلك وإنما يحدث ذلك فيه بالشمس ولقد رأيته بمدينة قالقوط يصبّ للكيل كالذرة ببلادنا (Voyages, Vol. IV, p. 77)

wa-ʼl-ʿāmmah bi-bilādinā yazʿumūna ʾannahum yaqlūna-hu bi-ʼl-nnāri wa-bisababi ḏālika yuḥdiṯu fī-hi al-takrīša wa-laysa kaḏālika wa-ʾinnamā yuḥdiṯu ḏālika fī-hi bi-ʼl-ššamsi wa-laqad raʾaytuhu bi-madīnahi qāliqūṭ yaṣubba li-l-kayli ka-ʼl-ḏḏurahi bi-bilādinā

Most people in our country suppose that they roast them with fire and it is because of that they become crinkled, but it is not so since this results only from the action of the sun upon them. I have seen pepper grains in the city of Qāliqūṭ being poured out for measuring by the bushel, like millet in our country. (tr. Gibb)

And Jordanus in his Mirabilia Descripta:

Piper est fructus herbæ quæ est ad modum hederæ quæ ascendit super arbores, et facit semen ad modum lambruscæ, quasi uvam; quod est primò viride; deindè cùm pervenit ad maturitatem, efficitur totum nigrum et rugatum, prout potestis videre. Sic etiam nascitur piper longum; nec credatis quod ignis ubi est piper, vel quod coquatur, sicut aliqui volunt dicere mendosè. (Recueil de voyages, Vol. IV, p. 49)

Pepper is the fruit of a plant something like ivy, which climbs trees, and forms grape-like fruit like that of the wild vine. This fruit is at first green, then when it comes to maturity it becomes all black and corrugated as you see it. 'Tis thus that lon