View source for Biology:Aframomum melegueta

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{speciesbox
|name = ''Aframomum melegueta''<br>grains of paradise
|image = Ñamako gi (Aframomum melegueta).jpg
|genus = Aframomum
|species = melegueta
|authority = K. Schum.
|synonyms = *''Amomum melegueta''
}}
'''''Aframomum melegueta''''' is a species in the ginger family, [[Biology:Zingiberaceae|Zingiberaceae]], and closely related to [[Biology:Cardamom|cardamom]]. Its seeds are used as a spice (ground or whole); it imparts a pungent, [[Biology:Black pepper|black-pepper]]-like flavor with hints of citrus.  It is commonly known as '''grains of paradise''', '''melegueta pepper''', '''Guinea grains''', '''''ossame''''', or '''''fom wisa''''', and is confused with '''[[Biology:Alligator pepper|alligator pepper]]'''.  The term '''Guinea pepper''' has also been used, but is most often applied to ''Xylopia aethiopica'' (grains of Selim).

It is native to [[Place:West Africa|West Africa]], which is sometimes named the [[Place:Pepper Coast|Pepper Coast]] (or Grain Coast) because of this commodity. It is also an important cash crop in the Basketo district of southern Ethiopia.<ref>[http://www.dppc.gov.et/Livelihoods/Downloadable/Regional%20Overview.pdf "Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) Livelihood Profiles: Regional Overview"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716091124/http://www.dppc.gov.et/Livelihoods/Downloadable/Regional%20Overview.pdf |date=16 July 2011 }}, FEWS Net (January 2005), p. 27 (accessed 18 May 2009)</ref><ref>{{Citation|last1=Tchatchouang|first1=S.|title=Chapter 11 - Antiemetic African Medicinal Spices and Vegetables|date=1 January 2017|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012809286600011X|work=Medicinal Spices and Vegetables from Africa|pages=299–313|editor-last=Kuete|editor-first=Victor|publisher=Academic Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-12-809286-6|access-date=2 March 2021|last2=Beng|first2=V. P.|last3=Kuete|first3=V.}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
''Aframomum melegueta'' is an [[Biology:Herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] [[Biology:Perennial plant|perennial plant]] native to [[Earth:Swamp|swamp]]y habitats along the West African coast. Its trumpet-shaped, purple [[Biology:Flower|flower]]s develop into pods {{convert|5|–|7|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long, containing numerous small, reddish-brown [[Biology:Seed|seed]]s.

The pungent, peppery taste of the seeds is caused by [[Chemistry:Aromaticity|aromatic]] [[Chemistry:Ketone|ketone]]s, such as [[Chemistry:Paradol|(6)-paradol]] (systematic name: 1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-decan-3-one). [[Chemistry:Essential oil|Essential oil]]s, which are the dominating flavor components in the closely related [[Biology:Cardamom|cardamom]],<ref>Grains of paradise are listed among the varieties of caradmom in the 25th ed. of the ''Dispensatory of the United States of America'' (1955) p. 257, as Paul E. Beichner notes in "The Grain of Paradise", ''Speculum'', vol. 36, no. 2 (April 1961), p. 303. Beichner suggests the miraculous "{{lang|enm|greyn}}" of Chaucer's "The Prioress's Tale" was grains of paradise.</ref> occur only in traces.

The stem at times can be short, and usually shows signs of scars and dropped leaves. The leaves are narrow and similar to those of bamboo, with a well-structured vascular system. The flowers of the herbaceous plant are aromatic, with an orange-colored lip and rich pinkish-orange upper part. The fruits contain numerous, small, golden red-brown seeds.

[[Image:Aframomum melegueta.jpg|thumb|upright|The seeds of ''Aframomum melegueta'']]
==Uses==
[[Image:Grainsofparadisefruits.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''A. melegueta'' pods at a market in São João dos Angolares, São Tomé Island.]]

Melegueta pepper is commonly used in the cuisines of [[Place:West Africa|West]] and [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]], from where it has been traditionally transported by camel caravan routes through the Sahara desert and distributed to Sicily and the rest of Italy. Mentioned by Pliny as "African pepper" but subsequently forgotten in Europe, they were renamed "grains of paradise" and became a popular substitute for [[Biology:Black pepper|black pepper]] in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.<ref>Several medieval recipes are republished in ''Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-Books'', Thomas Austin (ed,) Early English Texts Society, vol. 91 (1888) (cited in passing by Beichner 1961), under the names {{lang|enm|graynys of parise}}, {{lang|enm|graynis of parys}}, {{lang|enm|graynys of Perys}}, and simply {{lang|enm|graynis}}.</ref><ref name="Austin-170">Daniel F. Austin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eS7lX_rC3GEC&dq=Aframomum+melegueta+trade&pg=PA170 "Florida ethnobotany"], p. 170, CRC Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8493-2332-0}}</ref><ref>"Its popularity may have been due to the brilliant name thought up for it by some advertising genius born before his times" observes Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell (tr.), ''The History of Food'', revised ed., 2009, p. 446.</ref> The ''Ménagier de Paris'' recommends it for improving wine that "smells stale". Through the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, the theory of the four humors governed theories about nourishment on the part of doctors, herbalists, and druggists. In this context, John Russell characterized grains of paradise in ''The Boke of Nurture'' as "hot and moist".<ref>Noted, with other examples of fiery and watery grains of paradise, by Beichner 1961, p. 304, note 8; cardamom, with which it was often confused, as ''Cardamomum maius'' and ''Cardamomum minus'', was reported by Dioscurides as hot and dry in its qualities, as recorded in the late 13th-century ''Herbal of Rufinus'' (Beichner, p. 305f).</ref>

In 1469, King Afonso V of Portugal granted the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea to [[Place:Lisbon|Lisbon]] merchant Fernão Gomes.<ref name="marinha">{{cite web |url= http://www.marinha.pt/extra/revista/ra_fev1999/pag21.html |title=O Contrato de Fernão Gomes |access-date=24 December 2006 |language=pt |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203020748/http://www.marinha.pt/extra/revista/ra_fev1999/pag21.html |archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> This included the exclusivity in trade of ''Aframomum melegueta'', then called malagueta pepper. The grant came at the cost of 100,000 {{lang|pt|real}} annually and agreement to explore {{convert|100|mi|km|order=flip}} of the coast of Africa per year for five years; this gives some indication of the European value of the spice.<ref name="rt">{{cite web |url= http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/kchrist/discpde.html |title=Discoveries After Prince Henry |access-date=24 December 2006 |last=Thorn |first=Rob}}</ref> After Christopher Columbus reached the New World in 1492 and brought the first samples of the chili pepper (''[[Biology:Capsicum frutescens|Capsicum frutescens]]'') back with him to Europe, the name {{lang|es|malagueta}}, and Spanish and Portuguese spelling, was then applied to the new chili "pepper" because its piquancy was reminiscent of grains of paradise.<ref name="Austin-170"/> Malagueta, thanks to its low price, remained popular in Europe even after the Portuguese opened the direct maritime route to the Spice Islands around 1500.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Bartolomeo Marchionni, "Homem de grossa fazenda" |orig-year=c. 1450–1530) |last=Guidi Bruscoli |first=Francesco |publisher=Leo S. Olschki editore |date=2014 |isbn=9788822263001 |location=Firenze |pages=92–93}}</ref> This namesake, the malagueta chili, remains popular in {{wipe|Brazil}}, the Caribbean, Portugal, and Mozambique.

The importance of the ''A. melegueta'' spice is shown by the designation of the area from the St. John River (near present-day Buchanan) to Harper in Liberia as the Grain Coast or Pepper Coast in honor of the availability of grains of paradise.<ref name="Laurie">''Laurie's Sailing Directory for the Ethiopic or Southern Atlantic Ocean to the Rio de la Plata, Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope etc., including the Islands between the two coasts''; 4th ed., 1855</ref> Later, the craze for the spice waned, and its uses were reduced to a flavoring for sausages and beer. In the 18th century, its importation to Great Britain collapsed after a parliamentary act of George III forbade its use in alcoholic beverages.<ref>Kup, Peter; ''A History of Sierra Leone, 1400–1787'' (Cambridge University)</ref>{{page number needed|date=July 2018}} In 1855, England imported about {{convert|15000|to|19,000|lb|kg|order=flip}} per year legally ([[Finance:Duty (economics)|duty]] paid).<ref name="Laurie"/> By 1880, the 9th edition of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' reported: "Grains of paradise are to some extent used in veterinary practice, but for the most part illegally to give a fictitious strength to malt liquors, gin, and cordials".<ref>{{Cite EB9|wstitle=Grains of Paradise|volume=11}}</ref>

The presence of the seeds in the diets of lowland gorillas in the wild seems to have some sort of beneficial effect on their cardiovascular health. They also eat the leaves, and use them for bedding material. The absence of the seeds in the diets of captive lowland gorillas may contribute to their occasionally poor cardiovascular health in zoos.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asknature.org/strategy/23ec7287a4207c835d8bf162ff26afcb |title=Gorilla diet protects heart: Grains of paradise |date=20 February 2012 |work=AskNature.org |publisher=Biomimicry Institute |access-date=18 April 2012}}</ref><ref>Dybas, Cheryl Lyn; Raskin, Ilya (photographer), [http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/full/10.1641/B570503?select23=Choose& "Out of Africa: A Tale of Gorillas, Heart Disease&nbsp;... and a Swamp Plant"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110801111458/http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/full/10.1641/B570503?select23=Choose& |date=1 August 2011}}, ''BioScience'', vol. 57 (May 2007) pp.&nbsp;392–397.</ref>

Today the condiment is sometimes used in gourmet cuisine as a replacement for pepper, and to give unique flavor in some craft beers, gins, and Norwegian {{lang|no|akvavit}}. Grains of paradise are starting to enjoy a slight resurgence in popularity in North America due to their use by some well-known chefs. Alton Brown is a fan of the condiment, and he uses it in [[Biology:Okra|okra]] stew and his apple-pie recipe on an episode of the TV cooking show ''Good Eats''.<ref>Brown, Alton, "Apple of My Pie", ''Good Eats'', season 11, episode 15.</ref> Grains of paradise are also used by people on certain diets, such as a raw food diet, because they are considered less irritating to digestion than black pepper.

==Folk medicine and ritual uses==
In West African folk medicine, grains of paradise are valued for their warming and digestive properties, and among the Efik people in Nigeria have been used for divination and ordeals determining guilt.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Donald C. |last=Simmons |title=Efik Divination, Ordeals, and Omens |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |volume=12 |issue=2 |date=1956 |pages=223–228 |doi=10.1086/soutjanth.12.2.3629116 |s2cid=163651830 }}</ref>  ''A. melegueta'' has been introduced to the Caribbean and Latin America, where it is used in Voodoo religious rites.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Voeks |title=Ethnobotany of Brazil's African Diaspora: The Role of Floristic Homogenization |journal=African Ethnobotany in the Americas |date=2013 |pages=395–416 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-0836-9_14 |isbn=978-1-4614-0835-2 |publisher=Springer }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Erica S. |last=Moret |title=Trans-Atlantic Diaspora Ethnobotany: Legacies of West African and Iberian Mediterranean Migration in Central Cuba |journal=African Ethnobotany in the Americas |date=2013 |pages=217–245 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-0836-9_9|isbn=978-1-4614-0835-2 |publisher=Springer }}</ref> It is also found widely among Protestant Christian practitioners of African-American [[Unsolved:Hoodoo (folk magic)|hoodoo and rootwork]], where the seeds are employed in luck-bringing and may be held in the mouth or chewed to prove sincerity.<ref>{{cite book |first=Catherine |last=Yronwode |title=Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A Materia Magica of African-American Conjure |date=2002 |pages=107–108 |isbn=978-0-9719612-1-0 |publisher=Lucky Mojo}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[Biology:Aframomum corrorima|Aframomum corrorima]]''
* [[Biology:List of culinary herbs and spices|List of culinary herbs and spices]]
* Phytotherapy

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Afra_mel.html Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages]

{{Transient receptor potential channel modulators}}
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[[Category:Aframomum|melegueta]]

{{Sourceattribution|Aframomum melegueta|1}}