Long pepper, which tastes pungent and sweet at the same time, probably came to Europe much before the now dominant black pepper. During the Roman Empire it was priced about three times that of black pepper, as it was perfect for Roman cookery, especially fond of these two taste sensations. Its hot-and-sweet taste goes well with spicy cheese specialties or wine sauces. In India, the long pepper is mainly used in pickles (achar).

Long pepper is also known and popular in parts of Africa, mostly in the Islamic regions of North and East Africa. It can be found in the complex spice mixtures of Morocco. It is also of some importance for the cuisine of Ethiopia, where long pepper is usually found in the traditional meat stews (wat) together with black pepper, nut meg, cloves and turmeric.

Berebere, a classical Ethiopian spice mixture, which resembles Indian masalas is used to spice mutton dishes. It is a really hot mixture, the main ingredient of which is long pepper.

Piper Longum differs little in its medicinal values from P. nigrum as it is less aromatic and more acrid. It is widely used in Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine particularly for diseases of respiratory tract. The dry spikes of female types are used in the ayurvedic preparations like Pipalarishta, Pipplayasava, Panchakola, Pippalayadiluha and Lavanabhaskar churnam. It is the major constituent of an ayurvedic preparation, 'Triaktu' which is prescribed routinely for a variety of diseases. The root is used for bronchitis, stomachache, diseases of spleen and tumours. It improves appetite also. The infusion of root is prescribed after parturition to induce the expulsion of placenta.

Long pepper contains the alkaloid piperine (about 6%), which is slightly higher than that in black pepper. Piperine has diverse pharmacological activities including nerve depressant and antagonistic effect on electro-shock and chemo-shock seizures as well as muscular incoordination. Thippali, as it is popularly known, also contains one per cent essential oil, which exhibits antibacterial activities.

Long pepper is successfully cultivated in well-drained forest soils rich in organic matter. Laterite soils with high organic matter content and moisture holding capacity are also suitable for cultivation. Areas with high rainfall and high humidity with an elevation of 100-1000 m is ideal. It grows well under semi-shady conditions (25-50 per cent shade) in irrigated coconut gardens.

Propagation is through suckers or rooted vine cuttings, 15-20 cm long with three-five cm nodes. March-April is the best time for raising nursery. The rooted cuttings will be ready for transplanting in two months. With the onset of monsoon in June, the field is ploughed well and raised beds of convenient length and breadth are taken. On these beds, pits are dug at 60 x 60 cm spacing and well-decomposed organic manure at the rate of 100 g/pit is applied and mixed with soil. Rooted vine cuttings are then transplanted to these pits.

Heavy manuring at the rate of 20TFYM/ha every year is required. Crop growth and spike production increases by the application of wood ash. It is reported that unirrigated crop after the onset of monsoon grows vigorously and shows much hardiness that the irrigated crop. A study conducted at Kerala Agricultural University to find out the optimum spacing and manorial recommendation revealed that plant height, number of branches, number of leaves and total dry matter increased with high dose of organic manure and 30:30:60 kg NPK/ha with an optimum spacing of 50 x 50 cm. In soils with low fertility the growth of the plant is very poor.

The pests like mealy bugs and root grubs, attack the plant particularly during summer, which can be controlled by drenching with systemic insecticides like nuvacron or dimecron.

The vines start flowing six months after planting and flowers are produced almost throughout the year. The spikes are harvested when they are full-grown but yet unripe and become blackish green in colour and then dried in sun for four-five days. If left without picking they ripe and their pungency is lost to a great extent. The yield of dry spike is 400 kg/ha during first year, increases to 1000 kg/ha in the third year and decreases there after. The green to dry spike ratio is 10:15 by weight.

After the third year, the whole plant is harvested. The stem is cut close to ground and roots are dug up. Average yield is 500 kg dry roots/ha. Stems and roots are cleaned, cut into cylindrical pieces of 2.5 - 5 cm length and 0.5 - 2.5 mm thickness, dried in shade and marketed as piplamool.