You might be amused
to know that I used to be unmercifully teased about my constant references to
‘freshly milled black pepper’. Was that the precursor to the cranberries or
liquid glucose of later years? No, I don’t recall anyone actually selling out,
but I quite definitely had a campaign going. I said I would always refer to
pepper as freshly milled and black until I saw no more of the white, musty,
dusty stuff that people sprinkle on their food. I’m still campaigning strongly
because, even now, unbelievably, it continues to turn up in restaurants.
Black pepper
Black peppercorns are whole immature berries that are harvested while still
green and dried in the sun till they turn black. The berries contain a white
inner kernel – the hottest part of the berry, which is quite fiery when used on
its own – and a black outer husk, which has all the aromatic fragrance that
enhances the flavour of food. Thus, if you use the whole berries you get a
little bit of fire and a lot of aromatic fragrance.
Cayenne pepper
An absolute must in the kitchen. It’s hot and fiery
and needs to be used with extreme caution, but it is brilliant for that little
sprinkling of piquancy. It’s made from one of the hottest types of chilli, which is
dried, then crushed to a powder – including the seeds. I’m forever using a
pinch here and there, and I love it sprinkled on smoked fish or prawn cocktail.
Although spices, once ground, do not have a long shelf life, cayenne does seem
to go on longer than most, but still needs replacing fairly regularly.
Cayenne pepper
scattered around your house will break bad spells. Adding it to love powders
will ensure that your love will be spicy, and can inflame the loved one with
passion.
Despite its name, this is not actually from the same family as black, white and
green peppercorns, but comes from a type of ash tree. It’s used in oriental
cooking and is an ingredient of Chinese five-spice powder.
Reddish-brown
peppercorns, much stronger than either black or white peppercorns of the West. Usually sold in plastic
bags. Will keep indefinitely in a tightly sealed
container.
White pepper
Here the berries are allowed to mature before
harvesting, the husks are discarded and the white kernels dried to become white
peppercorns. The dried berries, stored whole, will keep their aroma for a long
time, but once they have been powdered to dust in a factory, hung about on the
shelf and stagnated in a pepper pot, there is no surprise that the result is a
million miles from the fragrance you can keep locked up in your pepper mill.
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This is such a standard ingredient that it is used in almost all recipes, so I won’t bother listing them all here.
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