Pepper makes its way into just about every dish that passes through the kitchen so make sure you're using good quality pepper. After all, the good stuff doesn't cost more than lesser pepper.
You don't use pre-ground black pepper, do you?
Ground black pepper really isn't worth buying. "Once the hard, black shell of the pepper corn is cracked open, its aroma immediately stars to fade, and most of its flavor and scent disappear within a half hour," explains the new November/December issue of Cook's Illustrated.
Instead buy good quality peppercorns and grid them right when you need pepper. Here's the top three black pepper brands recommended by the Cook's Illustrated tasting panel:
• Kalustyan's Indian Tellicherry Black Peppercorns, $6.99 for a 2.5 ounce jar
• Morton And Bassett Organic Whole Black Peppercorns, $5.39 for 2-ounce jar
• Zingerman's Tellicherry Peppercorns, $8 for a 2.53 ounce jar.
For those looking for super-special pepper, Cook's Illustrated gives a shout-out to Parameswaran's Special Wynad Estate Peppercorns. This higher-priced pepper is hand-picked from a single estate.
We were surprised that some of the tasters didn't like the Penzey's peppercorns we usually use at home. They complained that the Penzey's peppercorns carried heat, but not much flavor. So now we're wondering if we should change? What brand of peppercorns fill the pepper mill in your kitchen?
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i went on the mad hunt for inexpensive peppercorns here in nyc because my cute rabbit-eared pepper-grinder finally ran out of the red-white-black peppercorns it came with. here's what i found:
bed bath and beyond had a jar of red-white-black for $11.
crate and barrel had a jar of red-white-black for $10.
PEARL RIVER had a big bag of black-only peppercorns for $1.30
guess which one i went with?
think i can tell the difference in taste from the "good quality" ones? nope!
I get them in bulk (like all my spices) at the health food store. Maybe the brand is Frontier? Can't really remember.
Joan A. - Yes, Frontier is a wonderful bulk foods company and they supply many health food stores' bulk bins.
Penzeys has 4 varieties of black peppercorns -- did they test all 4? (and then there are mixes, white, pink, and green)
(1 guess as to which pepper I buy!)
The City Market in Kansas City has a spice guy who has one large scoop 3/4 C-1 C for $1! They are the tri-colored peppercorns, and I'm about out!
I buy the no-name grocery store brand of black peppercorns. They're the same as the fancy tri coloured variety. They all taste like pepper.
I think the best thing about pepper is grinding it fresh. Pre-ground pepper is only to fill my salt and pepper shaker collection. But the grinder is always on the table/stove instead.
Mmm pepper...
I'm a heathen. I use pre-ground black pepper. Even worse, I don't own a pepper mill!
Well... that's not really true. I do have the Trader Joe's peppercorns in their own plastic pepper mill which I also use.
But yes, I have the pre-ground stuff. Sorry, but its really cheap at the Hong Kong Supermarket in Flushing and IOG in Fresh Meadows.
local health food co-op bulk spice section (Joan A. guessed right, the brand is Frontier). I buy all my herbs and spices in bulk. They are much fresher and significantly cheaper that way.
Anything I store in a grinder like nutmeg or pepper comes home in a small paper bag from the store. I just bring the regular jars right to the store and fill them there, truly zero packaging waste.
My sister gave me the 4-peppercorn blend from the Atlantic Spice company, and I love it! It's a really good price too.
http://www.atlanticspice.com/store/gourmet-spices-bulk,category.asp
After all, the good stuff doesn't cost more than lesser pepper.
Huh? This sentence makes no sense to me. Maybe if someone uses very small quantities of pepper, the cost is spread out over a long period? Hmm.
Anyway, I am keen to try pepper from Pohnpei. When my parents lived in the North Pacific in the 1970's, this is what they would buy. It is much more expensive than "lesser pepper," but I couldn't say whether it is actually superior.
I can't taste a difference between fresh ground pepper from a mill and regular ground pepper.
I'm with Aldyth. I recently switched from iodized salt to sea salt as well, and I can't tell the difference in those either.
I saw this article and decided to join the discussion. I am the owner of Pepper-Passion . (We have a web site and sell peppercorns if you are interested.) I liked the article and agreed with the conclusions but I beleive their taste testing was incomplete. I have a few comments as follows:
1. We do hundreds of taste tests each year and we recommend that samplers let their nose be their guide. While aroma and taste are different, we generally find that people are most attracted to the pepper that has a smell that appeals to them. I have never met a person who could not distinguish the differences in a side-by-side comparison.
2. We have seven different black peppercorns and each has a distinctive flavor. They are as follows: Malabar, Lampong, Sarawak, Tellicherry, Madagascar, and Penja. (We have also offered Kampot and Pohnpei but are currently out of stack.)
3. I never mix peppercorns. Would you mix red and white wine in the same glass? Why deprive yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the unique and subtly different flavors?
4. Grocery store pepper is garbage for the most part. It is a blend of whatever was available at the lowest price. Kind of like the 2lb cans of coffee that everyone bought 30-40 years ago before specialty coffee shops arrived. There are better products out there and you CAN taste the difference.
5. There is no such thing as gourmet ground pepper and I refuse to sell it. If you like pepper and do not use freshly ground pepper you do not know what pepper tastes like.
6. The good news is that anyone can enjoy some of the best pepper in the world for not a lot of money ($40-50 per year if you use it a lot?). The same cannot be said for wine.
Try some good stuff and have some fun. If you are visiting this web site, you probably care how your food tastes and notheing can leverage your food flavors more that good pepper.
Regards, Bruce Morgan