smartweed - the southern black pepper

I think sometimes we get stuck in a place where we think that certain flavors or foods can only come from the grocery store…

Black pepper is what I am thinking about today, and the lovely smartweed family, or the Persicaria family.

Most of the members of the Persicaria family have seeds that contain varying amounts of the essential oil piperidine which is the volatile oil that gives black pepper its kick.

There are 15 varieties of Persicaria in Alabama and many (9 or so) of them can be found broadly throughout the state.

The most researched of these varieties of Smartweed is Persicaria hydropiper with its list of uses quite varied and long.

Like many warming spices, smartweed is a circulatory stimulant, and useful for rheumatism, pain, and issues with sluggish digestion and infectious gut “stuff” like parasites and bacterial infections.

I think one of the coolest things about Smartweed is its uses and history in Traditional Folk Medicine.

I was taught that the southern folk named Persicaria “Smartweed” because when you add it to a formula it “makes everything work better.”

In herbalism this concept and category of herbs go by many names; driver, catalyst, potentiator, etc.

There are many substances that work in this way from niacin to DMSO, castor oil topically, rosemary, black pepper, and cayenne.

Basically, these substances, with varying efficacy and different phytopharmacology/pharmacology all increase the bioavailability of paired constituents.

In a well-known concrete example, black pepper when paired with turmeric increased the serum (blood) concentration of curcumin by 154% for a period of 1-2 hours.

Sooooooo, before we knew that black pepper (piperidine) worked in the above way our southern herbal ancestors were using the Persicaria family in the way research backs up now.

I love it when that happens.

So, go snag you some Persicaria seeds, dry them and grind them and use them as your black pepper for this winter.

P.S. If you want to learn interesting factoids like this from me in excess think about joining in on the upcoming Foraging & Medicine Making Intensive!

It is an amazing course.