The fruits of this plant are often confused with chili peppers, which belong to the genus Capsicum, originally from the Americas.

The oldest known reference to long pepper comes from ancient Indian textbooks of Ayurveda, where its medicinal and dietary uses are described in detail.

[1] Among the Greeks and Romans and prior to the Columbian exchange, long pepper was an important and well-known spice.

[6] Though often used in medieval times in spice mixes like "strong powder", long pepper is today a very rare ingredient in European cuisines, but it can still be found in Indian and Nepalese vegetable pickles, some North African spice mixtures, and in Indonesian and Malaysian cooking.

Pippali is the main spice of nihari, a popular meat stew from India, originating in the Indian metropolis of Lucknow, and one of the national dishes of Pakistan.