9 Ways To Cook With Peppercorns

There's one spice in your cupboard that you may take for granted. It's one that you use most often, and it's typically used right after salt -- it's the yang to salt's yin. Pepper! Just a grinding or two is enough to season a finished dish, but sometimes a whole lot of it, coarsely cracked, is amazing on steaks and other meats.

Pepper used to be the king of the spice world and was at one point in history the most valuable. Today pepper is cheap and, with the wide availability of exotic spices, it's easy to forget how important pepper really is to us.

Peppercorns are actually berries that grow in grape-like clusters on the Piper nigrum vine, which is native to India and Indonesia. Black, green and white peppercorns are all "true" peppercorns and come from this same plant. What differentiates them is how they're processed.

• Black peppercorns are picked underripe, briefly boiled and dried.
• Green peppercorns are also picked underripe but treated so the color stays intact and then dried or brined (great for sauces).
• White peppercorns are allowed to fully ripen, stripped of their dark outer shells by soaking and then dried.

All these peppercorns can be purchased whole or ground. As you might imagine, green peppercorns have the freshest taste, black peppercorns the most pungent and white the mildest.

A few other spices also carry the name pepper or peppercorn, including pink peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorns. But these peppercorns are unrelated to true pepper.

• Pink peppercorns come from an evergreen tree called Schinus molle, which is native to Peru, Chile and Argentina. Its flavor is much more fruity than regular pepper -- it's great used in salad dressings or as a seasoning for fish or chicken.
• Sichuan peppercorns are the berries of a plant related to citrus. The outer dried husks of the berries are used as a spice with the tiny, gritty seeds discarded. Prized in Chinese Sichuan cuisine, the peppercorns have a unique citrus aroma and create a tingling sensation in the mouth. They are best used in stir-frys or as a seasoning for meats.

Browse the slideshow below to see recipes that feature the different kinds of pepper.

How much pepper do you use in your cooking? Let us know below.

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Comments

[D Bruce Morgan]

11:50 AM on 10/22/2012

If you are a pepper lover you should have a look at http://www.pepper-passion.com. The best selection of peppercorns available in the USA.

[phelonious]

02:17 AM on 04/17/2012

i absolutely love black and green pepper, i add it to almost everything. my favorite is our regional Pohnpei Pepper. http://www.kestrelgrowth.com/Pohnpei-Pepper/index.php

[D Bruce Morgan]

11:52 AM on 10/22/2012

Pohnpei pepper is no longer available in the USA. We hope the situation changes as it does have a small but loyal following.

[bfit4life]

02:00 PM on 04/13/2012

Serious question: Is either form of pepper healthier, or even possibly ?LESS? healthy for you?! I have a lot of reactions or food sensitivities to certain spices. For example, once I had peanut butter with "turmeric" and loved it so much, but found out that turmeric is a blood thinner and in my case it can cause me to hemorrhage. Any helpful references would be appreciated.

[phdpamela]

04:47 PM on 04/13/2012

I either read, or was told a long time ago, that it was best to eat white pepper because we don't digest black pepper well. You can research it, or maybe someone else here has more knowledge on the subject they can share.

[Caketress]

09:09 AM on 04/13/2012

I love pepper. I put it on nearly everything.. as I hate salty food. A little bit of salt is fine, but I like a little hotness/spiciness when I eat. My mother puts salt on EVERYTHING. No, really.. everything. Even fruit (I don't know why I've always found that weird and so wrong!) and her blood pressure and everything is completely normal. Always gets a healthy stamp at the doctors. SMH

Anyway, I had never seen or heard of white peppercorns or pink until I got to culinary school. Now I stock up for when I decide to cook anything. They always add that something extra to foods, sauces and dressings. Especially the pink. SO GOOD!

[Alex Boot]

06:22 AM on 04/13/2012

Interesting

[artfuldodger10]

10:16 PM on 04/12/2012

I love pepper. I put white pepper in just about every thing. Love it in apple sauce and apple pie.

[SBinF]

01:17 PM on 04/12/2012

For my pepper mill, I purchase from the farmers market black, white, green, and pink peppercorns. Throw them in the mill and get a little of each every time I grind.

I do keep the Sichuan peppercorns on hand too, but they get much less use. Very interesting addition to dishes. It's almost more of a sensation on the tongue than a taste.

[Alex Boot]

06:32 AM on 04/13/2012

Interesting