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History of Pepper

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Re: History of Pepper

#41

Post by dtgriscom »

dtgriscom wrote: post #38
hammock wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A similar pepper mill, made in the USA (not China) for a lower price: Unicorn Mills Magnum ($59) http://www.unicornmills.org/magnum-plus.html I have not tested either, though I have heard of the Mannkitchen Pepper Cannon and from what I know it is probably the best one you can get if you are not concerned with price. We are talking high-volume output, only one or two pumps needed per dish. Or as they say in the marke…

I was about to recommend this very mill. Have had it for just shy of 14 years, and it still makes great grinds.

That said, I just looked through the Männkitchen website, and I'm sorely tempted.

Re: History of Pepper

#42

Post by na85 »

walrus01 wrote: post #32
sfifs wrote: post #13

One interesting side note is that in the land of origin of pepper in India, to a very large extent Chilli has replaced pepper as the spiciness creating ingredient in most household and restaurant dishes. Chillies of course come from Mexico and are another colonial import. Pepper is now used only in a very few mostly traditional Indian dishes.

Something interesting to think about is that the potato has become an essential and staple food in some places like the central mountain highlands of Afghanistan, but it didn't exist there prior to sailing ship contact between the "new world" and "old world". How exactly the potato made it there from Spanish, Portugeuse and early English expeditions around 1500, and the lag time until it became commonplace there I am…

No doubt it was traded along the remaining fragments of the Silk Road. Some routes persisted into the 1700s.

Re: History of Pepper

#43

Post by Karupan »

I was lucky enough to once get quite a bit of black and white pepper from my friend’s spice estate in south India. The black pepper wasn’t considerably better than a good supermarket brand, but the white pepper was much better. Since it’s quite a common ingredient in South Indian cuisine, my family used it up in a couple of years. We usually end up hand pounding using a mortar and pestle.

Re: History of Pepper

#45

Post by Bud »

yeetaccount4 wrote: post #25
Bud wrote: post #2

As an aside, if anyone is looking for an absolutely insane pepper mill, get the Männkitchen Pepper Cannon. You will never need another one. It's a big solid hunk of aluminum, stainless steel burrs, and puts out 5-10x the amount that other mills do per crank. Easier to adjust fineness of grind than any other mill out there. Evenness of grind is also superior. It has changed my entire life in the kitchen.

How’s this better than a $15 mortar and pestle? I mean for $200 let’s mill that bitch out of a solid block of Ti and give it tungsten carbide burrs…okay that’s probably a $1000 kitchen status symbol.

I've actually used a mortar and pestle to prepare huge quantities of pepper for evenly coating a 17-pound prime rib, so I can answer that.

First, if you use a mortar and pestle, peppercorns will randomly fly out. This is not convenient.

Second, it will take you a long-ass time. This is also not convenient.

Third, you will have basically no control over evenness of grind/crush. And that evenness helps.

I know the $200 will make many folks blanche, but I'm telling you, that all melts away once you use this thing. :)

Re: History of Pepper

#46

Post by Bud »

addaon wrote: post #29
Anthony-G wrote: post #23

We only had pre-ground white or black pepper when I was growing up but as a young adult, I discovered that pepper has much more flavour when freshly ground. Since then, I’ve wondered why I don’t ever see white pepper-corns for sale. This article answered the question for me: > Black pepper tastes strongest when freshly ground although pre-ground pepper is often used in seasonings for convenience. White pepper is less…

I've also discovered, not surprisingly, that there's a wide quality range for peppercorns. Good, fresh peppercorns are not just stronger, but have a wider range of flavors, like floral notes. This [1] is what's in my peppermill now, and I'm really enjoying it -- no affiliation with B&B, but I've enjoyed everything I've bought from them. [1] https://www.burlapandbarrel.com/collections/peppercorns/prod...

Those look rather nice, but they are 10x what you should be paying. You can get good, fresh Tellicherry peppercorns for $8 a pound on Amazon, and they are very nice. Another option is your local co-op or spice store, which, if you are lucky, should have pepper in bulk for about the same price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QW1GH8Q/ref=vp_d_pb_TIER2_cmt_l...

Re: History of Pepper

#47

Post by grendelt »

dtgriscom wrote: post #39
elangoc wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about chili peppers is that they're not healthy (have medicinal benefits) in the way peppercorn and long pepper do. Capsaicin can be harmful in large quantities, IIUC. There are South Indian foods and snacks like venpongal and methu vadai that use whole peppercorn, not chili peppers. Tomato is another colonialism byproduct, but there are still people who make versions that use lemons instead of tomatoes. A…

> Capsaicin can be harmful in large quantities, IIUC. Citation?

> Citation?

Pepper spray. ;)

Re: History of Pepper

#49

Post by addaon »

Bud wrote: post #46
addaon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also discovered, not surprisingly, that there's a wide quality range for peppercorns. Good, fresh peppercorns are not just stronger, but have a wider range of flavors, like floral notes. This [1] is what's in my peppermill now, and I'm really enjoying it -- no affiliation with B&B, but I've enjoyed everything I've bought from them. [1] https://www.burlapandbarrel.com/collections/peppercorns/prod...

Those look rather nice, but they are 10x what you should be paying. You can get good, fresh Tellicherry peppercorns for $8 a pound on Amazon, and they are very nice. Another option is your local co-op or spice store, which, if you are lucky, should have pepper in bulk for about the same price. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QW1GH8Q/ref=vp_d_pb_TIER2_cmt_l...

I try to avoid eating things from Amazon, due to supply chain concerns.

Compared to the $10/lb pepper I get locally, the $40/lb stuff is noticeably better, and I end up using a bit less of it. It's not a major expense for me -- a pound lasts nearly a year at my usage rate, which is about the point where I'd be worried about freshness anyway -- so, while I agree the cost-per-unit-weight difference is significant and even ridiculous, the cost-per-meal difference is in the noise for me personally.

Re: History of Pepper

#50

Post by simonebrunozzi »

Several inaccuracies regarding Venice. Venice thrived in the 15th and 16th century, despite the claim of the article of Venice losing the pepper trade to Lisbon, and started to decline only at the beginning of the 17th century.

Salt seems to have been at least as important as pepper.

From the Wikipedia page on the Economic History of Venice [0]:

> According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade, a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing due to a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of the Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_Venice#Sal...

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