Pantry Restock: Ultimate Peppercorn Blend
Every few months, I prepare a blend of peppercorns for my pepper mill. I, like many others, used to stick to Ol’ Reliable, black peppercorns, but now I stand by a blend of 4-5 different peppercorns. The result is multiple dimensions of flavor and I don’t think I can go back.
What are peppercorns?
Peppercorns are the fruit of a flowering vine called Piper nigrum. The stonefruit is about 5mm in diameter, dark red, and contains a single pepper seed. The unripe seeds are dried and cooked to make black peppercorn or simply dried to make green peppercorn. The ripened seeds are dried to make white peppercorn. Black pepper is native to India and is the most traded spice in the world and you can find it on even the barest of shelves in virtually every kitchen. Pink peppercorns are fruits of the Peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle, while Szechuan peppercorns are fruits of various Zanthoxylum trees.
For this blend, I use black peppercorns as a base. Any variety of black peppercorns will be fine. I have used Ceylon peppercorns obtained from spice markets overseas and discount black peppercorns from TJMaxx and noticed little difference because this is a blend. I use weighted measurements here and will continue to do so. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend getting one. If you are too stubborn (or broke), you can really eyeball this. The measurements below are really to give you an idea of proportions as I’ve no idea what size your pepper mill is, The general idea is to start with a base of black peppercorns and half as many green peppercorns. You can adjust the white and pink peppercorns to your personal taste and budget.
Peppercorn Blend
Equipment
- Pepper Mill
- Funnel
Ingredients
- 50 9 black peppercorns
- 25 g green peppercorns
- 15 g white peppercorns
- 10 g pink peppercorns
- 5 g szechuan peppercorns
Instructions
- Mix all of the peppercorns together in a bowl. Use the funnel to pour into an airtight container. Store for up to 4 years.
