malagueta

plural malaguetas · alternative melegueta · alternative mallaguetta · alternative manegete · alternative maniguetta · alternative maniguette · alternative mallagetta · alternative mellegette · alternative malegutta · alternative malaguetta · alternative malagato · alternative malaget · alternative malagetta · alternative malaghetta · alternative malegetta · alternative mileguetta

1. Synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of the West African Aframomum melegueta; the plant itself.

   In Ginney the fruit that is most rife and common... is named Maniguetta.

   1568, André Thevet, translated by Thomas Hacket, The New Found Worlde, or Antarctike, Wherein Is Contained Woderful and Strange Things, 26v

   2 more examples

   The people of the Gold Coast, when suffering from headache, rub over the forehead a paste of Malaguetta pepper.

   1863, Richard F. Burton, Wanderings in West Africa, Dover Publications 1991 edition, volume II, page 37

   Grains of Paradise, Guinea Grains, Melegueta or Mallaguetta Pepper, from Ampelopsis Grana Paradisi, or Habzeli of Ethiopia... Two kinds of these grains are known in the English markets, one plumper than the other... They resemble Pepper in their effects, but are seldom used except in veterinary practice and to give strength to spirits, wine, beer, and vinegar.

   1931, Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal, volume II, page 628

   Synonyms: grains of paradise

2. The seeds or seed capsules of a Caribbean variety of Capsicum frutescens; the plant itself, now extensively grown in Brazil, Portugal, and Mozambique.

   Their seasoning is generally a berry of the Malaguetta, a variety of the Capsicum Gutescens.

   1824, Johann Baptist von Spix et al., translated by Hannibal Evans Lloyd, Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820, Vol. II, iv, ii, 260