Unfortunately for accurate tracing of culinary history, much confusion surrounds the name "pepper." Prior to Columbus, the only known pepper was the black powder made by grinding the dried berry fruit of the plant
Piper nigrum. If the outer shell of this fruit was removed before grinding it, the pepper would be white.
When Columbus arrived in America, thinking that he was in the East Indies near the Spice Islands, he erroneously called the natives Indians and assumed that if they were Indians then they must be flavoring their food with pepper. In fact, the Indians were using various forms of a completely unrelated plant, Capsicum frutescens. The fruits of this plant ranged from dark greens through bright oranges, purples, and yellows. Some were round, some oblong, some shaped vaguely like bells, and some the size and shape of small tears.
Like the word "Indian," which today must do double duty to represent people in Asia and America, the overburdened word "pepper" must represent both a small Asian berry and a whole family of unrelated American fruits.
