Product Review: Peugot Pepper and Salt Mill

Early last fall, I finally gave up on my cheap, Bed Bath and Beyond pepper mill. The screw-on head was loose, because the rod which connected the head to the grinder wheel was too worn to hold the two pieces together, and if you picked it up off the table, the grinder wheel and all the pepper would usually fall out the bottom. I had mastered a technique of holding the mill 'just right' in order to stubbornly keep using it, but I knew it was time to throw the thing away when at a dinner party the contraption fell apart in my guest's hand, showering her food with whole peppercorns. Finally, my bubble of denial burst.


I decided I was done with cheap kitchen implements, and that where I could, I'd spend just a little bit more in the name of quality. I read a discussion on pepper shakers on Slashfood, found out about the Peugeot brand, and became fascinated. Not only did they make pepper mills, but also salt mills, so you may have fresh-ground sea salt at your table. The difference is that the grinding apparatus within the salt mill is specially treated so that the salt won't eat away the metal wheels. If you tried to use a pepper mill for salt, the wheels would become dulled and you couldn't grind baby powder.

So for the holidays, I asked for a set of salt and pepper mills. . . of course, the most modest of sets, since their 'Rolls Royce' set can be up to 200 dollars--were I to purchase those, I'd become a much better artist so I could paint a tiny portrait of Benjamin Franklin on each mill, and forever remind myself exactly what 100 dollars looks like.

My present opened, I have enjoyed my smooth, wooden Peugeot mills without incident for the past year. No signs of wear are apparent, they grind their respective spice beautifully, and while they are the base model and don't have coarseness settings, I don't mind at all. Since they have a limited lifetime warranty (I find those more realistic than 'lifetime' warranties, since they acknowledge that yes, objects have fixed liftimes, the center cannot hold, and things fall apart) and I won't have to buy replacements in two years, I find the initial investment of 30 dollars to be worth it.