FWIS3

Was cruising thru Aldi's (the locak inexpensive chain grocery store) doing some shopping, and on an impulse picked up one of those small bottles of black peppercorns with the grinder as the cap. Later that night, I cranked a few turns into the recipe du jour, and saw that the grinder was a coarse one. But how interesting...the coarse grind put a different taste than what I was expecting. For some reason, I'm attributing this to the grind (and the resultant large pepper flakes that affect the tongue differently). So now, I have a fine pepper grinder (ya really gotta crank it to get a bunch out -- we're talking powdery fine here), a can of "fine ground" pepper that I characterize more as "the standard grind", and my coarse grinder. Also have a bottle of sea salt crystals with the grinder atop it, and have been known to use that as opposed to the regular shaker-size-crystal salt when cooking.

And I got to thinking...what if I took the normal complement of spices that I usually use (I have my own private concoction of various types and amounts for a pot of soup, let's say), put 'em all in one of those bottle grinders, shook thoroughly, and then ground it all into the pot? I'm betting that for some reason things would taste somewhat different.

I'd like to try this, but to get another grinder I'd have to buy a bottle of whatnot and pitch the contents -- which seems wasteful to me.

So...anyone got an empty of these things? Wouldn't mind two or three for various components -- one would be reserved for a pepper mix that might contaminate some finer-flavored mixes, so we're talking about reserving one for "special project #1".

Anyone got some they want to get rid of? Let me know...I'll reimburse mailing costs.

Thank you for your consideration ini this matter...

Bon appetit!

get another bottle or 2 of those peppercorns. pour out the peppercorns and use the bottle to grind your spice mix. use the peppercorns to refill the original bottle.

temptation temptation...but I've already got a 3/4ths full can of ground pepper, a full grinder bottle of peppercorns, a half full of peppercorns pepper grinder, and a 3/4ths full bottle of peppercorns. I'm up to my eyeballs in pepper!!!

BTW...as long as they're kept sealed in the bottle, and kept in a cool dark place, how long do peppercorns last? The one bottle I have is probably ten years old, but it's been sealed tight and kept in the back of the cupboard...after Dad passed, we were divvying up various whatnots of his, and no one else wanted the grinder and the peppercorns...their loss, lemme tellya...Hector Boiardi I ain't, but I do have fun spicin' things up...

Peppercorns have a shelf life of about 3 years.... (sorry) Ground pepper - about 4 months...

College students and biology classes - about 3 hours...

see? the expert says that you need to buy more pepper.

And mix in some Sichuan pepper. You'll get a better kick.

brite wrote:Peppercorns have a shelf life of about 3 years.... (sorry) Ground pepper - about 4 months...

College students and biology classes - about 3 hours...

College students have a shelf life of about 3 hours? Will they last longer if I keep them in the freezer?

Swift wrote:

brite wrote:Peppercorns have a shelf life of about 3 years.... (sorry) Ground pepper - about 4 months...

College students and biology classes - about 3 hours...

College students have a shelf life of about 3 hours? Will they last longer if I keep them in the freezer?

Well... that all depends... is the freezer locked?? Is there ice cream?? How about fudgsicles??

Someday I will have a house that's mostly kitchen and then I will go get all the kitchen implements over which I've drooled ....

Okay...got the grinders, now we're talkin' grindees...

The original recipe for Miz Laura's Custom Pepper goes as is:
Black peppercorns. Grind coarse.
White peppercorns.l Grind coarse.
Red pepper flakes. Grind coarse.
Combine equal parts by volume.
Use as table condiment, or in cooking.

Never have been able to find a bottle of white peppercorns. Got the grinder bottle of black peppercorns, but no bottles of white.
Did find a bottle of a mix -- black, white, red, green, and a couple minor spices thrown in.
Eventually I thought to just go with what ya got, and stop denying yourself the pleasure of good food whilst searching.

So I'm going to go ahead and for now, just grind a bit of the mix for pepper use to see what it comes out like.
What I'm thinking of, though, is a variant of the original recipe.
Something like this:
1x quantity of black peppercorns
2x quantity of the peppercorn mix
1x quantity of the red pepper flakes.
Mix all 3 in a small handheld grinder, and give myself carpal tunnel by grinding it down medium/coarse (experimentation...).
(Gotta look on eBay for an inexpensive crank or electric spice grinder...)
Something tells me that this has some flavor potential. Haven't tried it yet, but am looking for opinions as to whether this
sounds worth pursuing.

Your commentary invited.

cid wrote:Never have been able to find a bottle of white peppercorns. Got the grinder bottle of black peppercorns, but no bottles of white.

go to amazon

code monkey wrote:

cid wrote:Never have been able to find a bottle of white peppercorns. Got the grinder bottle of black peppercorns, but no bottles of white.

go to amazon

Hang a right past Central America and stop about a third of the way down the continent.

ha ha ho ho funny funny...

Actually, I'm thinking of hitting a couple places around here that may have it, but that's eventually...
I think I'll try the straight mix from the store, then the modified recipe. I still have a small supply of
Miz Laura's original left, so what the heck...time to experimentate...

<Nevermind. Redundant post.>

White Peppercorns

Jungle Jims didn't have a search feature or product list, but I'm sure you could find them there or any natural foods market. Whole Foods, World Market, Trader Joe's. Actually, I can't believe Kroger wouldn't carry them. I'll find that out this evening.