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Aframomum melegueta
Also called Melegueta pepper, Guinea Grains, Guinea Pepper, Alligator Pepper
Grains of paradise is a rhizomatous perennial herb in the ginger family, grown mainly for its peppery seeds, native to swampy West African coasts. It needs warm, humid, moist conditions and rich soil to thrive.
Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta) is a species in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, and closely related to cardamom. Its seeds are used as a spice (ground or whole); it imparts a pungent, black-pepper-like flavor with hints of citrus. It is also known as melegueta pepper, Guinea grains, ossame, or fom wisa, and is sometimes confused with alligator pepper. The terms African pepper and Guinea pepper have also been used, but are ambiguous as they can apply to other spices such as grains of Selim (Xylopia aethiopica).
In Cameroon, the name is jujube, not to be confused with the jujube, fruit of Ziziphus jujuba
Melegueta is a major component in the diet of Western Lowland gorilla—around 80 to 90 percent. The gorillas eat the entire fruit and act as a source of seed dispersal for melegueta. In addition to food, the plant is the most common material used to make nests and beds.
Melegueta pepper is commonly used in the cuisines of West and 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 black pepper in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. 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".
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Grains of paradise by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
