Piper longum is not common in Western cuisine. Its use in Indian cuisine goes back thousands of years, and now science may have discovered why.

Apparently the spice's remarkable medicinal qualities could enlist it as an anti-cancer drug.

When researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, US) investigated the pepper's long-heralded anti-cancer properties, they discovered a curious link to a chemical called Piperlongumine, which has been shown in other studies to work against many cancers, including prostate, breast, lung, colon, lymphoma, leukemia, primary brain tumors, and gastric cancer.

Ayurveda medicine includes the long pepper as a sought-after ingredient in many remedies. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates even referred to the long pepper in his study of Ayurveda. The ingredient is also used as a simple spice in many stews and other delightful dishes.