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Piper guineense is a species of Piper; the spice derived from its dried fruit is known as Ashanti people pepper, Benin pepper, Edo pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, and called locally kale, kukauabe, masoro, etiñkeni, sasema, soro wisa, eyendo, eshasha by the Urhobo people, Iyere, or ata-iyere by the Yoruba and oziza and uziza by the Igbo people of Nigeria. It is a close relative of Cubeb and a relative of black pepper and long pepper. Unlike cubeb, which is large and spherical in shape, Ashanti pepper grains are , smaller and smoother than Cubeb pepper in appearance and generally bear a reddish tinge. The stalks of Ashanti pepper berries are also distinctly curved whilst those of cubeb pepper are completely straight. The terms West African pepper and Guinea pepper have also been used, but are ambiguous and may refer to grains of Selim or grains of paradise.
The plants that provide Ashanti pepper are vines that can grow up to 20 m in length, climbing up boles of trees by means of adventitious roots. These are native to topical regions of Central and Western Africa and are semi-cultivated in countries such as Nigeria where the leaves, known as uziza, are used as a flavouring for stews. Like other members of the Piperaceae, Ashanti pepper contains 5–8% of the chemical piperine which gives them their Piquancy taste. They contain large amounts of Caryophyllene, which is being investigated as an anti-inflammatory agent. It also contains significant proportions (up to around 10%) of myristicin, elemicin, safrole, and dillapiol, as well as some apiole (around 1.4%).
In terms of flavour, Ashanti pepper is very similar to cubeb pepper but is less bitter and has a fresher, more herbaceous flavour and aroma than cubeb's more pine-like scent. Though known in Europe during the Middle Ages (it was a common spice in Rouen and Dieppe in 14th-century France), these days, its use is largely marginalized to West Africa and Central Africa.
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