IngredientsSpicesEasy to get wrong
Weißer Pfefferwhite pepper
Same plant as the black one: Piper nigrum. The berries are picked ripe and left in water for days until the skin comes off.
What is left is the pale inner seed. That is why the corn is smooth and beige, not black and wrinkled.
Die Fallethe trap
Anyone who thinks pepper is pepper reaches for the black one. In a pale sauce that fails twice: the note is wrong, and dark specks float in the plate.
It works the other way round too. White pepper on a steak tastes musty, not fresh.
Geschmacktaste
The piperine heat is still there and hits harder at first. What is missing is the resinous freshness of the skin.
In its place comes an earthy, slightly fermented note from the soaking. Use little; it takes over fast.
In der Küchein the kitchen
Pale sauces, béchamel, mashed potato, potato soup, asparagus, cauliflower, fish. Wherever the dish should stay light.
It also sits in many pale German sausages. It seasons without being seen.
In Mexikoin Mexico
Pimienta blanca is around, it just sits on the shelf less often than the black. City Market, La Comer, spice shops, Mercado Libre.
Buy it whole and grind it fresh. A second small mill kept for it saves refilling the other one.