How Switching To Fresh Ground Pepper Will Change Your Food

Yes, it's convenient to buy that mega container of ground pepper from a wholesale store to refill your pepper shaker, but you're doing yourself a huge disservice by using pre-ground black pepper. Dried spices start to lose flavor quickly once they're ground, and you have no idea how long the pre-ground pepper has been sitting in that big plastic bottle. In fact, the larger the portion you buy, the more likely it is to go stale before you use it.

Freshly ground pepper is the best option for most recipes, whether you're looking to make the best scrambled eggs or to add punch to your salad. And freshly ground pepper is essential if you're making a dish like classic bucatini cacio e pepe, which calls for plenty of black pepper to balance out the creaminess of the dish. Pre-ground black pepper will not offer nearly as much flavor and aroma as freshly ground pepper and the whole dish will come out flat. 

Freshly ground pepper will have an earthy, sweet aroma, with a spicy kick. Pre-ground pepper will have some of those components but they will not be nearly as pronounced. There are several reasons for this, including that the flavorful essential oils in the whole spice are released when the spice is ground. 

Black pepper is likely the most used spice in your kitchen. Whole black peppercorns are unripe pepper berries from the Piperaceae family that have been dried. Piperine is the main flavor compound in black pepper, which gives it spicy heat and activates your salivary glands so that you enjoy the flavors of your food more. Germacrene, limonene, pinene, and alpha-phellandrene are responsible for its aromas, which range from warm and sweet to fruity. During the drying process, the sharp flavors become concentrated in the berry. When peppercorns are cracked open, their flavors and oils are released. Freshly ground peppercorns leave your mouth with a prickly spice sensation and add pungent flavors and aromas to your food.

The fresh flavor of the ground pepper starts to fade within half an hour. Oxidation also makes the spice lose its potent flavor over time. So when you buy pre-ground pepper, the best flavors have long gone. Using pre-ground pepper is "basically like sprinkling sawdust on your food," says Jack Bishop, chief creative officer at America's Test Kitchen.

The advice to use the whole freshly ground spice goes for all peppercorns, including black, white, and green. Whole dry spices can retain their potency for a long time, and if you store them correctly by keeping them in an airtight container in a cool place, they can last for three to four years. It is advised to use pre-ground spices within a year.

There are several methods to crack peppercorns, but in most cases, a good pepper mill is all that you need. Restaurants use the goofy, huge peppermills so they can reach everyone's plates around the table. But for the home, you can go for a smaller pepper grinder or an electric one that does the cranking for you. You've likely also noticed the screw on top of a pepper mill. It has a purpose. Turning it one way or another determines the size of your pepper grind. A finer grind is better for cooking or garnishing, and a chunkier one is good for crusting meats with a spice blend.

As a rule of thumb, whole spices will always be more flavorful than pre-ground ones. You can make your own spice blends, like freshly ground pumpkin pie spice or Chinese five spice, by toasting whole spices, which releases oils, and then grinding them in a pestle and mortar. Whole peppercorns can also be ground this way, allowing for more control over how fine you want the spice. This method is often called for in more pepper-forward dishes like pepper-crusted steak or the aforementioned cacio e pepe, for which you'll need a large quantity of ground pepper.