A drawing made for this site. Drag it to turn it.

Pippali

Piper longum · 荜茇

Spices. Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine.

Also called Long pepper, Indian long pepper, Bi ba

Pinyin: Bì Bá

Sanskrit: पिप्पली (Pippali)

Irritates stomach in large doses

The dried spike of a pepper vine from India, used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine to warm digestion and ease cough.

Did you know? Long pepper was a major spice in ancient Rome and India, traded alongside black pepper.

What it may help, and how strong the proof is

Digestion & gut health. Traditional digestive tonic. Human trials are very few.
Traditional proof
Breathing & asthma. Used for cough and breathing in Ayurveda. Evidence is weak.
Traditional proof

Parts of the body

Gut & intestines, Stomach, Lungs

Traditional use

Ayurveda uses pippali to kindle digestion and to treat cough and breathing problems. Chinese medicine uses bi ba to warm the stomach and ease cold pain and vomiting.

How it is classified

Herbal actions: Carminative, Expectorant. Energy: warming.
Ayurveda: Calms Vata and Kapha. Can raise Pitta. Taste (rasa): pungent. Energy (virya): heating. After digestion (vipaka): sweet. Deepana (kindles digestion), Rasayana (rejuvenative), Kasahara (relieves cough).
Chinese medicine: 荜茇 Warm the interior. Nature: hot. Flavour: pungent. Enters the Stomach and Large Intestine channels.

How people take it

Used as a spice in cooking, or as powder or capsules in tradition. Small pinches a day are typical. No tested human medicinal dose is set.

Powder, capsule and tea.

Where to get it

Grows as a vine in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Dried spikes are sold whole or ground. Buy whole spikes or powder from spice shops.

Be careful

Strong pepper. Large amounts can irritate the stomach or mouth. Food amounts are fine in pregnancy, but large medicinal doses are not studied. Piperine may change how some drugs are absorbed.

Avoid if: pregnancy; stomach ulcers.

Mixing with other things

Works well together
Pippali (long pepper) is also an ingredient in Yogaraja Guggulu.
Works well together
Long pepper and black pepper are both pepper spices. Trikatu combines them with ginger.
Works well together
Trikatu, the three pungents, combines pippali, black pepper and ginger in Ayurveda.

Found in these formulas

Trikatu (Ayurveda), Chyawanprash (Ayurveda)

The honest take

Long pepper is a food spice that is safe in normal amounts. Its medical uses rest mostly on tradition and lab work on piperine. There are few human trials, so the claims about digestion and cough are not proven.