Black Pepper

Because pepper can be stored for many years without losing it's flavor and aroma, it has long been known as the master spice. Pepper was so precious in ancient times that it was used as money to pay taxes, tributes, dowries, and rent. It was weighed like gold and used as a common medium of exchange. In A.D. 410, when Rome was captured, 3,000 pounds of pepper were demanded as ransom.

Like all eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used.
Black pepper is a seasoning produced from the fermented, dried, unripe red berries of the plant Piper nigrum. (The same fruit, when unripe green, can be dried, or preserved in brine or vinegar, to make green peppercorns; or when ripe, dried and dehusked to make white peppercorns.)

It is one of the most common spices in European cuisine and its descendants, having been known and prized since antiquity due to its strong flavor. It is said that Alaric the Visigoth demanded from Rome a ransom of gold, silver, and pepper.

Ground black pepper may be found on nearly every dinner table in some parts of the world, accompanied by its constant companion salt.
When used in cooking, pepper added at the beginning of a recipe makes the whole recipe taste peppery. When added at the end of a recipe parts of the recipe taste peppery and other parts don't because the pepper won't be evenly distributed among the food.
Grinding pepper releases flavorful volatile oils that evaporate after time, so the full flavor of pepper is obtained when it freshly ground onto food at the end of cooking or after serving.