Many moons ago when I was in between jobs in tech I took a job at the wonderful cooking store chain Williams-Sonoma. Truth be told I made zero money at this job, not because they didn’t pay well, but because I spent my entire paycheck (and then some) on cool stuff that I still use today.
One of the things in my haul was a package of three different kinds of peppercorns, black, green and pink. Not sure why I bought them, and maybe I won them in some sales contest, but you never went home empty-handed after a shift. Hence my empty pockets on payday.
They sat in the back of the spice cabinet for a while and one day they ended up loaded into an extra pepper grinder as a mixture of all three. The combination is awesome.
First, you need to understand that different peppercorns bring different flavors to the party. You all know black peppercorns. These are likely what you fill your pepper grinder with.
(You do freshly grind your pepper right? You don’t? You need to get one, this is not negotiable.)
Anyway, I use Tellicherry black peppercorn in my grinder. They are really just regular black peppercorns but they are harvested when they reach a size of 4.25 mm or larger. Why is this important? Well, larger black peppercorns have less heat but when they get to the Tellicherry size they develop a more complex flavor and fragrance. Some would describe it as woodsy and citrus. If I want just “heat” there are several other peppers that do the job but that is a different post. So Tellicherry is what is in my go-to grinder and in this mix.
Pink peppercorns are more like a chili. There is a good article on Serious Eats that describes them as having “sweet fruity flavor reminiscent of a berry with an attitude”. I can’t describe it better than that.
Lastly, green peppercorns are simply unripened black peppercorns. We are using the dried version here. They also come preserved in brine and freeze-dried form. The green peppercorns are the mildest of the 3 and bring a certain “freshness” to the mix.
I used to just mix them up in a pepper grinder until I learned that the pink ones really should be cut with a blade rather than ground. But really the driving force behind this mix is that I wanted to be better able to better control the crunch factor and liked having some small and large pieces for a textural element when using the mix as a finishing seasoning.
Hopefully you have a coffee grinder that you have dedicated to spice mixes. If you do not I highly recommend that you get one. Do not use the same one that you grind coffee with as it will change the flavor of your coffee significantly, unless of course you like pepper flavored coffee.
You are going to see me reference this mix in a bunch of recipes for rubs and other spice blends, like DIY Taco Mix and Montreal Spice Blend, so make up a big batch. It will become a go-to flavor for you too.
Peppercorn Blend
Difficulty: EasyIngredients
2 TBSP Black Peppercorns (Tellicherry perferred)
1 TBSP Pink Peppercorns
1 TBSP Green Peppercorns (dried not brined or freeze dried)
Process
- Measure all three peppercorn types into a coffee grinder
- Pulse grinder a few times until you have course mix. Don’t overdo it. You want different sizes. Stopping and shaking the grinder after each pulse helps.
- Store in a small container with a cover.
