Stem of Woody Pepper (Piper pendulispicum C. DC) as a Source of Phenolic Acids and Piperine

Abstract

Woody pepper (Piper pendulispicum C. DC) is a medicinal spice recently reported from Andaman Islands apart from its natural distribution in Vietnam, Thailand etc. The species is unique as the thickened stem is used as a spice. As very limited information is available about the species, the present study was undertaken to understand the biochemical composition of its edible portion. Results revealed that stem thickness did not influence the moisture content and recovery of scraped stem. Piperine and phenolic acid profiling suggested that piperine content increased with an increase in stem thickness. Stem samples dried using vacuum drying had higher piperine content (7.665 mg/g) than those dried using oven drying (7.423 mg/g). Profiling of phenolic compounds revealed the presence of 18 phenolic compounds, ferulic acid being the dominant one. The concentration of ferulic acid was higher in thicker stems (867.945 µg/g) than in the thin stems (699.043 µg/g).