Uses of black pepper other than in Food
Black pepper, just like table salt, has an
unexpected list of alternative uses that extend beyond seasoning your
meals. In fact, as you're about to find out, there's a lot more to black
pepper than meets the eye. Let's take a look:
1. Keep colours bright
After your favorite bright-red top has been
worn and washed a couple of times, its color will start to fade.
However, pepper can be used to help your fabrics retain their bright
color and prevent them from running too. Just add a teaspoon of pepper
to the wash load.
2. Keep your plants bug free
Pepper can also be used as a natural pest
control in the garden - after all, there's nothing more frustrating than
a swarm of bugs nibbling at your plants. To keep bugs at bay, mix black
pepper with flour and sprinkle around the soil.
3. It will keep deer away too
While deer may enjoy dining on a freshly
budding garden, spraying your plants and bushes with a cayenne pepper
and water mixture will have them dining elsewhere.
4. Keep ants out of the kitchen
5. Keep rodents from chewing on cables wires
Though pepper's uses in the garden are
bountiful, this powerful ingredient can be used to keep ants away inside
the home as well. The ants in your kitchen are actually looking for
sugar, so keep them at bay by sprinkling cayenne pepper in spots along
the backs of your counter tops and on your baseboards.
5. Keep rodents from chewing on cables wires
Keep rodents away from your cable wires by spreading some black pepper on them.
6. Seal a leaking radiator in your car
Buy yourself some time before taking your
car to the repair shop. Pour a spice-rack sized container of black
pepper into the radiator. This will flow into the split or pinhole,
plugging the leak.
7. Stop a minor cut from bleeding
Pepper may be applied to the body too.
Prior to doing so, thoroughly rinse the cut and dab the bleeding area
with a clean, sterile cloth or paper towel. Then, sprinkle some ground
black pepper on the cut and secure it with a bandage. This remedy will
only work on small cuts. For deep cuts, with heavy bleeding, seek
professional medical attention.
8. Use pepper essential oil to alleviate arthritis pain
To soothe the pain, create your own
home-made warming massage by combining the following oils together: 1
drop of almond oil, 2 drops pepper, 1 drop ginger and 2 drops lavender.
9. Use pepper to stop a migraine in its tracks
If you feel the beginning of a migraine
coming on, add a 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to half a glass
of water. If the migraine doesn't subside 30 minutes later, drink
another glass.
10. Use pepper to help your liver detoxify
Combine the following ingredients and drink
up each morning: 1 lemon, squeezed, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 cup
filtered water, 1 teaspoon maple syrup.
11. To keep your cholesterol low - Add 1/4
teaspoon of black pepper to a glass of buttermilk. Mix in some finely
cut onion and drink.
12. To lose weight - Mix 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper, one glass
of water, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and one of honey. Stir well and
drink daily.
13. To reduce fever - Take 7 or 8 leaves of basil and 3 or 4 grains of
black pepper and chew them together.
14. To relieve a dry cough - Grind 5 or 6
seeds of black pepper and mix with natural honey. Swallow a spoon of
this mix daily until relief is achieved.
15. To relieve asthma attacks - Boil 8 to 10 grains of pepper, 2 clove
buds and 10 to 15 basil leaves in water. Let the brew sit for about 15
minutes, strain it and add 2 spoons of honey.
Tip: Drink with milk!
16. Treating a sore throat - Squeeze some lemon juice, add a bit of salt
and ground black pepper - and gargle.
17. To treat a cold - Make some tea and add 2 or 3 grains of ground black
pepper, a piece of ginger and basil leaves.
18. To treat a chronic cold - Consume ground
black pepper with dates.
19. To open a blocked up nose - Mix equal amounts of black pepper,
cinnamon, cumin and cardamom seeds. Grind to a thin powder and smell or
inhale the mixture. This will cause healthy sneezing and will open the
nose ducts.
20. To relieve any kind of cough - Grind some black pepper and add
sugar. Consume the mix with clarified butter.
21. To ease a heavy cough - add 2 or 3 grains of black pepper to a glass
of boiling hot milk, wait for it to cool a bit and then drink.
22. Treating a toothache - Mix ground black pepper with clove oil. Smear
the ointment on the afflicted area.
23. To treat indigestion - Mix some black
pepper with ginger juice and sip after every meal.
24. Relieve nausea - Mix black pepper and water in a glass, add some
fresh lemon juice, mix and drink slowly.
25. Treating skin conditions - Prepare an ointment from ground black
pepper and refined butter. Apply to skin conditions such as allergy
rash, Eczema and scabies.
26. To fight baldness - Make a thick paste from black pepper and lemon
seeds. Apply it daily to balding areas about 10 minutes before
showering. The solution should help revitalize hair growth.
27. To deal with hemorrhoids - Grind
together 20 grams of black pepper, 10 grams of cumin and 15 grams of
sugar. Mix in water and drink morning and evening, every day.
28. To stop bleeding - Cover the bleeding wound with ground black
pepper. Bandage with a paper towel and tighten with sellotape (scotch
tape). Wait 10 minutes and the bleeding will stop.
29. To stop hiccups - Hold a small plate with black pepper to your nose,
inhale strongly a few times and the hiccups will cease.