Malabar pepper

Its name comes from the Sanskrit pippali, which in Greek became πέπερι (peperi), then in Latin piper. Pepper cultivation originated on India's west coast, the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala, and spread to other Southeast Asian countries, Madagascar and Brazil. Its use in Greece dates back to the epic of Alexander the Great. In the Middle Ages, spices like pepper were rare. The Arab conquest of Alexandria in 642 marked the beginning of this trade. That's why the rarest spices, like pepper, were used as currency. This is also the origin of the expression "as expensive as pepper", or "to pay in cash (spices)". A nobleman's wealth could be measured by the quantity of pepper he possessed