Malabar pepper is a variety of pepper that originated as a chance seedling in a geographical region that now forms part of the present day state of Kerala in India. The area of production of this variety of pepper now covers all the geographical regions that were once part of the Malabar region of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. These regions now constitute now covers the entire South India. Malabar pepper was one of the most sought after commodities by the ancient Roman and Arab traders, and later by the early European navigators.
Malabar pepper is classified under two grades known as garbled and un-garbled. The garbled variety is black in colour nearly globular with a wrinkled surface. The ungarbled variety has a wrinkled surface and the colour varies from dark brown to black. The plant (piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed.
"Malabar pepper" has been granted registration in Part A under Sub-section (1) of Section 13 of Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. The application for registration was made by Spices Board, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
Other spices from India that have obtained Geographical Indication recognition from the Geographical Indication Registry of India are the following: