Black peppercorns have been used as a spice for over 4000 years in cooking and medicine in the Far East. In the 5th century AD Attila the Hun demanded 3000 pounds of peppercorns as a ransom for the city of Rome, the spice was considered as valuable as gold. The black pepper plant is a trailing vine with perfect heart shaped leaves. It can climb up to 5 meters in height and produces long clusters of 20-30 flowers which hang down and turn into tiny round fruit: the peppercorn