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As seasoning, black pepper is so ubiquitous that we sprinkle it liberally over our food without a second thought. We use it for cooking, baking, and marinating. Like salt, it's a staple in both the kitchen and dining table. Without it, dishes would be bland. So, I was shocked to discover that the spice we never give a second thought about is costlier than we think. That 80-gram bottle of black peppercorns from NTUC costs $3.66. It's not that I'm unwilling to pay, but I naively thought I'd be getting a lot more peppercorns at that price. If $3.66 only nets me 80 grams of peppercorns, then I'd need to fork out $45.75 for an entire kilogram! That is shockingly expensive for a common condiment. Image: Jeremy How did this even happen? Peppercorns are dried berries from the piper nigrum vine and are mostly harvested by hand, as seen in this video. But manual labour isn't the problem. The real reason is a crop shortage brought about by climate change, which in turn has caused harvests to drop. Throw in inflation, oil prices, conflicts, and a rise in shipping costs to the mix, and it's no wonder the cost has risen. Indeed, according to this subreddit, the price per ton of black pepper has tripled since January 2023. Now, obviously, black pepper can't compare to the price and rarity of saffron – the most expensive spice in the world. Nonetheless, this was still a shocking discovery, especially given how common black pepper is. I don't usually have pepper on my grocery list. But after learning about all this, I tried looking for those 100-gram packs of peppercorns and discovered they have become quite rare. In most supermarkets, all I find are these bottles. So, the next time you reach for that pepper shaker or grinder, remember, you're seasoning your food with 'black gold'. – Jeremy Main image: Jeremy