Pepper Soup Spice - Uziza
Piper guineense (Uziza)
A peppery seed ground and added to cooking to
give a peppery flavour Used in soups and stews. In particular banga soup
and pepper soup.
Over the years, plant
extracts and plant-derived medicines have made immense contributions to the
overall health and well being of human beings. The antimicrobial ability of
plant extracts and oils has established a platform for the processing and
transformation of these plant products into pharmaceuticals, preservatives and
natural medicine. Right from the onset, the use of plants in the treatment of
diseases has been widely accepted due to their healing properties.
According to World
Health Organization, many microorganisms are developing resistance to several
drugs which is posing severe threat to the general public health hence requires
actions across all sectors to curb this menace. As a result of this, there is a
growing interest in plant’s usage for medicinal purposes due to the presence of
several antibacterial compounds present in them. agree that medicines developed
from plants are comparably safer than their synthetic counterparts thus
rendering enormous therapeutic benefits at an economical treatment rate. P.
guineense ‘Uziza’ is of the family of Piperaceae and contains over 700 species
all over the world.
Piper guineense ‘Uziza’
is a medicinal plant known to provide both medicinal, insecticidal, culinary
and dietary benefits to human beings. Piper guineense is a West African species
of Piper and this spectacular spice is obtained from its dried fruit referred
to as uziza pepper, West African pepper, kale, Guinea cubeb, Ashanti pepper,
Guinea pepper, kukauabe, or Benin pepper. It is closely related to long pepper,
cubeb pepper and black pepper. Piper guineensis ‘Uziza’ is a local spice that
comprises of dillapiol, 5-8% of piperine, elemicine, 10% of myristicine and safrole
and these chemicals exhibit bactericidal and antimicrobial effects on certain
microorganisms. These effects have been associated with the presence of
phytonutrients such as flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, essential oils,
tannins, saponins, peptides and phenols in this spectacular plant.
P. guineense ‘Uziza’
leaves are aseptic in nature, with the ability to relieve flatulence. They are
also useful for treating intestinal diseases, cough, bronchitis and rheumatism
. According to the research carried out by, on the uses of some medicinal
plants, they found out that Piper guineense ‘Uziza’ is suitable for treating
Infertility in women & Low sperm count in men. They suggest that women with
infertility problems should boil Piper guineense ‘Uziza’ together with Xylopia
Spp (Uda), lime juice, Honey, Congronema latifolium (utazi) and Capsicum Spp
pepper in 1 liter. Of water and then take 1 glass cup on a daily basis only
during menstruation (for women). Men on the other hand can take ½ bottle of
lime juice mixed with 1 bottle of honey and taken 1 shot twice on daily basis
for low sperm count treatment.
, tannins are phenolic
compounds with proline-rich proteins that helps to inhibit the absorption of
iron when present in the gastro-intestinal lumen. This thus reduces the
bio-availability of iron due to the presence of anti-hemorrhoidal,
anti-diarrheal and haemostatic compounds that helps to treat diseases such as
irritating bowel disorders, enteritis, gastritis and esophagitis. Plants and
herbs that contain tannins as their primary components are astringent,
thus highly beneficial for treating intestinal disorders such as diarrhea
and dysentery, healing of wounds and inflammation of mucous membrane.
Alkaloids which are
natural product present in P. guineense ‘Uziza’ are made up of heterocyclic
nitrogen that possess antimalarial, pharmacological, anti-hypertensive,
anti-arrhythmic and anticancer effect. Flavonoids on the other hands, are
remarkable for their countless health benefits to human beings, especially due
to their antiplatelet, antiviral, anti-tumor, anti-allergic, anti-oxidant and
anti-inflammatory abilities). All these and other countless beliefs, thus back-up
the acceptance of P. guineense ‘uziza’ for the treatment of diseases.
Conclusively, Piper guineense ‘Uziza’ is highly recommended for use in
phytomedicine and can be of immense importance in health care especially in the
developing world.
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