CUBEB - essential oil
Otherwise known as 'Java pepper' or 'Tailed Pepper'
As it is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra, cubeb is sometimes called Java pepper. The fruits are gathered before they are ripe, and carefully dried. Commercial cubebs consist of the dried berries, similar in appearance to black pepper, but with stalks attached - "tailed pepper". Cubeb arrived in Europe via India through the trade with the Arabs.
The name cubeb comes from Arabic kabāba and cubeb is mentioned in alchemical writings by its Arabic name. In his Theatrum Botanicum, John Parkinson tells that the king of Portugal prohibited the sale of cubeb to promote black pepper around 1640. It experienced a brief resurgence in 19th-century Europe for medicinal uses, but has practically vanished from the European market since.
It continues to be used as a flavouring agent for gins and cigarettes in the West, and as a seasoning for food in Indonesia. In Ayurvedic medicine it is said to cleanse the head of phlegm, strengthen the brain, heat the stomach and promote lust
Health benefits
• Anti-septic
• Anti-microbial (including dental/oral infections, gonorrhoea)
• Skin: inflammation and rashes
• Respiratory: laryngitis, throat infections, halitosis (bad breath)
• Tonic: nervous system
• Parathyroid stimulator (therefore – osteoporosis, menstrual regulation)
• Gastrointestinal: indigestion, loss of appetite, carminative, gastro-protective, eliminates toxins, improves digestion, bowel movements, hemorrhoids
• Urinary: diuretic, astringent, stimulant
• Expectorant
• Anti-oxidant
• Liver: hepato-protective
• Analgesic
• Anti-pyretic (reduces fevers)
• Disinfectant
• Fertility
• Aphrodisiac