The thing is that pepper wasn't that 'exorbitant' as you might think. In an old answer of mine I went into some lengths about worth of pepper. As I showed in 15th century England, pepper was around 10 and 15 pence per pound of weight, with the salary of unskilled labor at the same period being 4.5 or 5 pence per day. So if someone did steal a pound of pepper, it would be a three-day minimum wage salary at best. It's nowhere near the get rich with a pinch, or "worth it's weight in gold" (nor silver for that matter)