Pepper is the perennial climbing vine of the family Piperaceae indigenous to the Malabar Coast of India, or the hotly pungent spice made from its berries. One of the earliest spices known, pepper is probably the most widely used spice in the world today. Pepper early became an important article of overland trade between India and Europe. Black peppercorns became a medium of exchange, and tributes were levied in pepper in ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages the Venetians and the Genoese became the main distributors, their virtual monopoly of the trade helping instigate the search for an eastern sea route. The pepper plant is widely cultivated throughout Indonesia. It has been introduced into tropical areas of Africa and of the Western Hemisphere. Whole ground peppercorns, when ground, yield black pepper. White pepper is obtained by removing the outer part of the pericarp. The outer coating is softened either by keeping the berries in moist heaps for 2 or 3 days or by keeping them in sacks submerged in running water for 7 to 15 days, depending on the region. The softened outer coating is then removed by washing and rubbing or by trampling, and the berries are spread in the sun to dry. Whole white pepper can also be prepared by grinding off the outer coating mechanically. The flavour is less pungent than that of black pepper.