There are a hand full of items in the kitchen that really are important because they get used all the time. A good chefs knife, baking pan, stock pot, among others but the pepper mill is probably used as much as any item in the kitchen. From start to finish, a meal often involves the use of pepper.
After having a Unicorn Magnum Plus Pepper Mill for a couple years, I realized what real pepper grinding was. It was and is an excellent pepper grinder, but there were a couple of things I didn’t like about it. I previously posted on my site about the Unicorn and the substitute pepper grinder I have been using since.
The substitute was fine for a while, but I still needed a good pepper mill. I remembered seeing an intriguing, well-designed spice mill at The Building Museum store in Washington, DC a few years back and searched for that. It was an Oliver Hemming designed pepper mill called the “Spice Boy” made out of wood (unlike the acrylic ones above). The wood ones are stunning, but I couldn’t find them for sale in the US, so I decided on a light blue acrylic spice boy instead. The mills come in a range of vibrant colors. On Amazon there is one black Spice Boy Mill
Now I must admit that I have only had the pepper mill for a short period of time, but here are my initial impressions. Later on, as repeated use allows me to give better commentary on durability and other quality factors, I will update this post.
Design: The design is brilliant, and the modified mortar on top of a grinder works impressively well. It feels great in the hand. There is no other way to describe it. It’s balanced and the proportions are just right. My hand cups the wide top perfectly, making the grinding very comfortable. It also looks stunning, and that is why it has won several design awards.
Speed: It grinds fast, but probably not quite as fast as the Unicorn. The unicorn is a literal pepper buzz saw, so it is hard to hold all grinders to that standard, but even though I don’t have my Unicorn with me anymore, I think it comes very close to it in speed.
Grind: It uses a tested corrosion-free crush/grind ceramic mechanism that is apparently guaranteed for 25 years. The mechanism at the bottom is easily adjusted, but I found that it took several times to figure out the coarseness of the grind. You have to get used to the ‘tension’ of the knob. Very loose is coarse and very tight is fine — and the middle is some kind of medium. But with that said, I was able to get fine, medium, and coarse grinds very easily, and I found the shower of pepper coming out of the grinder very even — more so than the Unicorn. I will be interested in see how it ‘holds’ a grind, especially at the medium setting as the mechanism is fairly loose and I could see it loosening on its own with repeated turns, thus giving a coarser grind. We will see, but I also had problems with the Unicorn going to a coarser grind.
Capacity and Loading: The mill probably holds about 2 ounces of pepper corns, which isn’t that much but enough that you won’t have to refill it constantly. The upside with this grinder is that it is extremely easy to fill with the mortar on top that acts like a funnel. But it does not hold nearly as much as the Unicorn Magnum Plus grinder. Chefs grinding a lot of pepper during one cooking session might want something with a bigger capacity.
Cleanliness: It is very clean, and that comes both from being very easy to fill and limited pepper release after grinding. One of my complaints about the Unicorn was that it left ground pepper all over and a special cup was to be placed underneath. This mill sheds a fraction of the pepper that the Unicorn did after grinding. I ground it, then smacked it on my hand and even then very little came out, maybe a fifth of what the Unicorn would leave behind.
Versatility: The grinder can be used for all kinds of spices, spice blends, salts, and pepper. The product description says it will grind anything as big as a coffee bean, but I even took it a big step further and it performed admirably. I used Indonesian long pepper which looks like miniature pine cones and range in half inch to inch long pieces. I probably wouldn’t want to use them all the time in any grinder, but the Spice Boy took them on very well.
Price: The cost is about $38 on most sites, but I purchased mine new on eBay for $15. The Unicorn Magnum Plus
Ease of Use: This is an easy piece of equipment to use, but it is a two-handed grinder. Those who want one-handed grinding will have to turn to other products. Elderly people or people who have hand problems may prefer this model to other manual grinders as the wide top is easier to grip. Think about the difference between gripping a screwdriver with a fat handle and one with a narrow handle. Also, those with less than steady hands or poorer eye sight will appreciate the wide loading cup.
My overall impression couldn’t be more positive about this grinder. For those who want design, this is a great choice, but even for those who just want to grind pepper, this will be an excellent choice too. So far I prefer it over the Unicorn Magnum Plus, which I used for two years. Maybe in two years time I will change my mind, but for now I would highly recommend this product.
