Malabar pepper Malabar pepper Malabar pepper is a variety of black pepper that originated as a chance seedling in a geographical region that now forms part of the present day state of Kerala in India. The area of production of this variety of pepper now covers all the geographical regions that were once part of the Malabar region of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. These regions now entail the entire South India area. Malabar pepper was one of the most sought after commodities by the ancient Roman and Arab traders, and later by the early European navigators. Malabar pepper is classified under two
Malabar region moisture-laden Southwest monsoon rains. The Malabar Coast featured (and in some instances still does) a number of historic port cities. Notable among these were/are Naura, Vizhinjam, Muziris, Nelcynda, Beypore and Thundi (near Kadalundi) during ancient times, and Kozhikode (Calicut), Cochin in the medieval period, and have served as centers of the Indian Ocean trade for millennia. Because of their orientation to the sea and to maritime commerce, the coastal cities of Malabar are very cosmopolitan and have hosted some of the first groups of Christians (now known as Saint Thomas Christians), Jews (today called as Cochin Jews), and Muslims (at