I just learnt that black pepper is NOT made from the dried seeds of bell peppers...

[LylaLee]

I'm really surprised. I wonder what else I think I 'know' which is wrong.

Green peppercorns are from the same plant as black, but are just picked early and not dried.

I didn't even know there were different types until I had a sauce with green peppercorns in, at a restaurant in my 20s. Nor that you could eat them like that. Quite a revelation.

yes I know now I found out a couple of years back 😃

And then there is Szechuan Pepper, which is a [commonly pink] peppercorn, with a black inner seed which can be seen when the peppercorn opens. And is not a pepper, or a peppercorn but a citrus.

You eat the outside not the inside, and the plant is a prickly fucker.

And 'capers' (the flower buds) are not the same thing as 'caper berries' (which are, indeed, the berries). A lot of people use the terms interchangeably.

Both edible, both from the same plant, but not actually the same thing.

"Billericay and County Durham. They both 'sound' Irish. In England place names are not usually called 'county' whatever. In Ireland they are. An easy mistake to make."

Sorry but Billericay and Durham most certainly do not 'sound' Irish 🤣🤣. And places are generally not called 'county' whatever too...

I thought ducks ate fish for years 🤣

I learnt this about Szechuan pepper after planting some, nurturing them for years, harvesting and drying the fruit, then throwing away the fucking husk because the black weds were so lovely and shiny. Fml. Roll on next year.

This.
OTOH I learnt only a few years ago that the dried fruit we call currants, are not currants at all, but a certain type of small grape, that came originally (or largely) from Corinth in Greece, which is where the name also came from. (Corrints, currants…)

@LylaLee also did you know that all bell peppers are the same but different levels of ripeness which is why you get green,yellow,orange and red?

Mrsjayy · Today 10:10

yes I know now I found out a couple of years back

Sorry if I seemed patronising! I found out 20 odd years ago, I don't usually pay them much attention, as I don't like them.

And thanks, Binturong !

County Cork is the one that springs to mind. And Billericay has the feel of Limerick, Tipperary and Kilmarnock.

I also want you all to know that bell peppers are called pepperoni in Italy. Pepperoni is not salame (yes with an e on the end) so don’t order pizza with pepperoni unless you want bell peppers.

I found that out a few years ago too. I thought they were different types for a long time.

See, I didn't know that. So what is pepperoni?

Shit. Don't they? Herons do. So what are they eating. Pond weed? Algae and krill like a whale? What do swans eat then? Same as ducks?

Bell peppers are called pepperoni in Italian. Somehow in the English speaking world we took it to mean salame.

I was understanding of you until this post, but a whole round peppercorn couldn't possibly be the same thing as the flat seeds from inside a pepper.

I meant what do Italians say when they want (what we call) pepperoni?

And this is my lesson for today! 😂I’ve never given any thought to where paprika comes from, but if I’d been asked I’d not have known. Till now 😂

I thought they changed shape by being processed. Maybe puffing out like popcorn in an oven. The way raisins don't look like grapes, but they are.

Now that you say it my friend only realised in her 40s that raisins were dried grapes!

Billericay has the feel of Limerick, Tipperary and Kilmarnock.

I don't get that at all.

Salame except we misspell it as salami

But they’re peppercorns. And look nothing like bell pepper seeds at all. Sometimes I can understand the funny misunderstandings but this one… wow.

I also thought capers were little fish like anchovies whenever I saw them on a menu.
sighs They aren't ?

I had to google peppercorn plant based on pp. I didn't realise they were vine like growing upwards as I thought they were more like a current bush shape.