a li'l pep in your step

i've never been the biggest fan of salt. i always thought it was terrible and evil and bad for you (confused and uneducated much?) and that even a sprinkling on my food was not cool. plus, i thought that adding salt to food made said food taste like salt or salty. i've since learned the wonders of salt and it's ability to enhance the secret, subtle and/or natural flavors of a product or dish (ever put salt on an avocado and eat it with a spoon? yeah, you'll know what i'm talking about here). however, in my brief albeit contemptous relationship with salt, i flavored and topped off my food with the other half of our favorite acronym "s&p" (read: salt and pepper).


p, oh wonderful, savory, spicy p, how i always have and always will love you so! (conversley, my friend loves s but isn't the biggest fan of p, funny how things work out). i personally have enjoyed the multifaceted tastes of black, white, pink (now FDA approved!), green and even szechuan peppercorns. my favorite of all time is the "4 pepper blend" or "rainbow blend" pictured above. who wouldn't want a serious blend of kickass pep. did you know such a thing exists as pickled peppercorns, used mainly in thai cuisine? me neither! but i do now. and so do you.

if you would like to be an incredibly awesome food nerd (like me!) and learn how peppercorns were once used as a form of currency, are the most widely traded spice in the world (by monetary value!) or were used in the middle ages to mask the taste of rotten meat (not in this kitchen baby!) check out wikipedia's black pepper entry.

also, hot knives, one of my favorite blogs, recently combined two great things: booze and peppercorns. god bless 'em! and i'm not just saying that in response to the sneeze which the chemical piperine found in peppercorns causes by irritating the nostrils (food nerd ahoy!).

achoo,
lauren