Mignonette" Crushed Black Pepper

What is pepper mignonette?

Pepper mignonette is crushed pepper. It can be black pepper, white pepper, or a mixture of both. This pepper is an intermediate between peppercorns and ground pepper. Less known by amateur cooks, it is widely used by professionals such as restaurant owners and butchers.

The harvest of mignonette pepper in plantations

Before being crushed, this pepper is a berry that is harvested from the black pepper plant or piper negrum. It is a perennial plant of the pipereaceae family. This climbing plant flowers in summer and then gives way to the peppercorns. The colour of your spice (black pepper, red pepper or white pepper) simply depends on the degree of maturity of the berry. To grow in the best conditions, the pepper plant needs heat and light. However, it is not advisable to leave this plant in full sun. The ideal soil for piper negrum is fresh, deep and drained. It cannot be grown everywhere. Indeed, the plantation is carried out in March in a soil whose temperature must ideally be at least equal to 25°. Thus, most of the time, the pepper tree is cultivated in tropical countries which offer the most favourable conditions for its development. However, you can try to plant some yourself, it will be however advised to put your plants in a greenhouse and to take care to respect a certain humidity level. Before being crushed, the pepper berry is dried (in the sun for the black and white pepper, sheltered from the sun for the red pepper). Then, in order to obtain a mignonette pepper, these berries are simply crushed in an artisanal or industrial way using machines depending on the origin of your pepper.

The origins of mignonette pepper

There is no specific origin for the mignonette pepper. Indeed, it is not a kind of pepper, but a form of it. This means that you can perfectly well find crushed pepper from Madagascar, Vietnam, India, Jamaica, Brazil, Nepal, Cambodia, etc.

How to use mignonette pepper in cooking

Mignonette pepper is great because it can be used in many different ways. This pepper is perfect if you want to make a homemade béarnaise sauce or a pepper sauce. For his sauce, Alain Ducasse uses Sarawak mignonette pepper but any other cracked pepper will be perfect. These small pieces will flavour your sauce without any big peppercorns appearing. He uses the following ingredients: - rump steak trimmings, mignonette pepper, shallots, garlic, cognac, cream, butter, beef broth, olive oil and fleur de sel. All these ingredients are unimaginable when accompanying a steak or escalope with pepper sauce. Cooks also use it to make a pepper crust for a fillet of beef. Brush your meat with softened butter and then place the mignonette pepper on top with a little salt. Cook in the oven and you will enjoy a beef with spicy flavours. It is also possible to make a beef or fish carpaccio sprinkled with crushed pepper and olive oil. Pepper is perfect for desserts and enhances their taste. For example, one can imagine a panna cotta with red fruits. The crushed pepper will mix with the red fruit coulis to break the sweetness and wake up your taste buds. Don't hesitate to invent your own recipe. With meat or fish, add pepper at the end of cooking. Marinate your skewers and leave to rest so that the meat can soak up the taste of the pepper. Incorporate mignonette pepper into homemade mashed potatoes or make a chocolate dessert with crushed pepper. Only your imagination will set the limits.

The health benefits of pepper

Pepper is antibacterial. Composed of piperine, it promotes digestion by activating the production of gastric secretions.

Preservation of mignonette pepper

This pepper is best stored in a dry place away from light. So you can place your bag in a cupboard or put it in an opaque pepper pot. Piperine also allows the secretion of endorphins which act favourably on depressive states. Mignonette pepper can also be used in case of fever. In a bath, an essential oil of pepper can reduce it.