Padma Lakshmi's Top Tip To 'Wake Up' Ground Peppercorns
Author, model, and TV host Padma Lakshmi might be best known as a food media celebrity, but she is also a master of working with spices. She is likely best known for her work on the long-running "Top Chef," and more recent "Taste the Nation" on Hulu, but she's also taken a deep dive into the world's many flavors in a recent book.
"The Encyclopedia of Herbs & Spices" is described as an A to Z journey through this flavorful world. It was released in 2016, but Lakshmi is still using her high profile to share some of her spice-centric wisdom with her fans.
In an Instagram reel recently posted by Lakshmi, she shared some black pepper expertise with her audience while preparing a chickpea, pepper, and spinach salad. If you're a long-time Today Meal reader then you already know what makes black pepper such an instrumental spice, and that you should be grinding your own at home. Lakshmi shared another great tip though that she says was shared with her by her grandmother.
How to enhance the flavor of ground pepper
During Padma Lakshmi's video, she points out that the devil is in the details just before she shows how she likes to enhance the flavor of her black peppercorns. "You're going to dry roast these peppercorns, and really wake up the oils. You don't want to be using any of that old nasty black pepper that's been in the back of your cupboard for a year," she says.
Taking about a half-teaspoon of whole black pepper from her jar, Lakshmi then toasts the spice gently over the stove. In the video, she uses a stainless steel ladle to hold the pepper but says that a small pan will do the trick as well. The peppercorns only need a couple of minutes over the flame to toast up nicely before Lakshmi grinds them in a mortar and pestle, and adds them to her salad.
Rumi Spice says that this tip can apply to plenty of other whole spices as well. Not only does toasting spices help activate the oils inside that give them flavor, but it also releases moisture and makes them easier to grind as well.
Other tips for handling spices
Toasting your black peppercorns isn't the only wisdom shared by Padma Lakshmi in her Instagram reel. As she takes her own peppercorns out of an airtight jar, she mentions that you should always store your spices somewhere dark, cool, and dry to maximize their flavor. "You should never have your spices on a spice rack above your stove, which I did for years. I didn't know any better," said admitted.
According to BestLife, storing your spices above or next to your stove will expose them to too much heat. Just like the heat used to toast your spices will help release the oils in the spice, the heat from your stove will cause your stored spices to react as well. If they aren't being used though, those oils will degrade quickly due to repeated exposures to high temperatures.
Lakshmi says that she keeps all of her spices in a drawer now where they are protected from heat, and also sunlight, which can degrade their quality. It might be convenient to keep your spices on hand, but it will also make them less effective.