Where does white pepper come from?
From black pepper. The most popular of all spices (salt is not a spice) is not related to sweet red, green, or hot peppers, but is the dried berry of a woody, climbing vine knows as Piper nigrum L.
On the vine the peppercorn is neither white nor black. As the fruit ripens, it turns from green to yellow and then to red. To make black pepper, the berries are picked while somewhat immature and then dried. As they dry, their skin turns a dark color. When ground, the pepper contains both light and dark particles—because the whole peppercorn is used—but the general appearance is dark.
White pepper is left on the vine to mature, at which point it is easier to separate the dark skin. The berries are soaked to loosen the skin as much as possible and then rubbed to remove it entirely. After the dark skin is discarded, the naked white peppercorns are put out in the sun to dry. . . .
Why bother with white pepper? Often it is used solely for aesthetic purposes, such as in light-colored sauces and soups where little black specks may upset the chef’s carefully orchestrated balance (or be misconstrued as little black insect fragments). Some spice wimps also prefer white pepper for its milder taste and smell. . . .
[Green peppercorns] . . . are immature berries not left out in the sun but either packed in liquid (usually wine vinegar or brine) or freeze-dried in order to retain the dinstinctive green color. Because green peppercorns are harvested at an early stage of the berry’s development, they are quite mild, but they do have a distinctive tase, which is prized by nouvelle cuisine restaurateurs.
—David Feldman, from Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and other Imponderables, 1988.
Why are most homes painted white?
Most homes in the United States have always been painted white. Paint was first used as a preservative as much as an aesthetic expression. White was evidently believed to be more durable than other mixtrues, but there were also historical reasons for its popularity. White was associated with the classic Greek and Roman architectural forms. Furthermore, Puritans viewed color as frivolous; the “seriousness” of white continued to appeal to Americans as late a the mid-nineteenth century. . . .
In the late nineteenth century, white houses became the vogue once again, and although tastes in home colors have gone through many cycles in the past hundred years, white has never become unfashionable.
—David Feldman, from Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and other Imponderables, 1988.
Why is royalty referred to as “blue-blooded?”
This term was first applied to the royalty of Spain during the Renaissance. The job of royalty, back then, was to loll around the palace, attempting never to lift a finger for any reason.
Because of their total lack of physical exertion, their blood was cool, lacking the oxygen induced by exercise. As a result, their veins actually showed through their skin, and so it appeared that their blood was pale blue.
—David Feldman, from Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and other Imponderables, 1988.
soft, white hands
“The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands. . . .”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls.
a blue light lit
“Keep walkin’ ’til you see a blue light lit
Fall in there and we’ll see some sights. . . .
You’ll want to spend the rest of your nights
Down at the house, the house of blue lights.”
—House of Blue Lights, words and music by Freddie Slack and Don Raye, 1947.
a small unregarded yellow sun
“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.”
—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 1979.
‘Has your eyes always been checked?’
“The optometrist says ‘Has your eyes always been checked?’
And I says, ‘Why no, they has always been blue. I gwarantee ya!’”
—Justin Wilson, concluding an episode of Justin Wilson Lookin’ Back, his cooking show. I caught it on RFDTV this morning, just after flying home via Heathrow and New York. (It’s good to be back home.)
nothing burns as easily or faster than film
“If you’ve gone to many picture shows, particularly back in the early days of the business, you’ve seen it happen once or twice. The film will hit the screen like a still. Then it looks like someone is punching a live cigar butt through it from the back.
That’s caused by not having the film rolling while the arcs are on. Because those arcs are just like a blast furnace, and nothing burns as easily or faster than film.”
—Jim Thompson, Nothing More than Murder, 1959. The burning still is used to great effect at the end of Two-Lane Blacktop, directed by Monte Hellman and starring James Taylor, 1971.
dark.
Not in operation; a dark house.
—Glossary of Exhibitor Terms, from Nothing More than Murder, by Jim Thompson, 1959.
paper.
Advertising matter.
—Glossary of Exhibitor Terms from Nothing More than Murder by Jim Thompson, 1959