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    PlasticList – Plastic Levels in Foods

    (www.plasticlist.org)
    450 points homebrewer | 12 comments | 24 Jun 25 14:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.619s | source | bottom
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    dredmorbius ◴[24 Jun 25 15:42 UTC] No.44367435[source]▶
    One class of items not listed here, which I'd recently started to think might be less-than-optimal: pepper sold in jars with built-in, plastic, grinders.

    I'd long since noted that as the jar emptied the grinders were increasingly ineffective. Thinking on why that might be ... I realised that this was because as you grind the pepper, you're also grinding plastic directly into your food.

    There's surprisingly little discussion about this that I can find, though this 5 y.o. Stackexchange question addresses the concern:

    <https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/103003/microplas...>

    Seems to me that plastic grinders, whether disposable or sold as (apparently) durable products, are a class of products which simply shouldn't exist.

    Searching, e.g., Walmart for "plastic grinders" turns up five listings presently, though it's not clear whether it's the body or the grinder itself which is plastic. In several cases it seems to be the latter.

    <https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/plastic-grinders>

    (Archive of current state: <https://archive.is/yIIX4>

    replies(11): >>44367605 #>>44367859 #>>44368266 #>>44368968 #>>44369162 #>>44369302 #>>44370201 #>>44370308 #>>44370419 #>>44372320 #>>44372576 #
    1. alwa ◴[24 Jun 25 20:01 UTC] No.44370419[source]▶
    Peugeot—yes, they of the cars—make an excellent line of steel-based pepper grinders, and a great nutmeg mill as well. Along with hoop skirts and lawnmowers and much more, apparently, over the 200 years since the family started their first steel mill:

    https://us.peugeot-saveurs.com/en_us/inspiration/history/

    The car business sold to Stellantis, but the lineage’s kaleidoscope of other enterprises apparently continues.

    replies(6): >>44370893 #>>44371329 #>>44372042 #>>44373293 #>>44374065 #>>44375534 #
    2. andruby ◴[24 Jun 25 20:50 UTC] No.44370893[source]▶
    I love them and have bought half a dozen over the years. My dad gifted me one when I moved out decades ago.

    A good pepper grinder (and the Peugeot’s are top notch) is such an obviously valuable purchase. Lasts a decade and fresh pepper from a good grinder is much tastier. One of the best $35 to spend imo

    3. rsync ◴[24 Jun 25 21:35 UTC] No.44371329[source]▶
    meh. I like the aesthetics of the Peugeot grinder but it is flawed.

    Specifically: the grinder top is not mated with reverse threads. This means the act of grinding loosens the top. I have to stop and re-tighten quite frequently.

    I suppose the design is perfect if you are left-handed ...

    replies(1): >>44372302 #
    4. alliao ◴[24 Jun 25 23:09 UTC] No.44372042[source]▶
    definitely one of those buy it for life type of thing, very satisfying once you get used to it, and it does take time to get used to it. the labelling is carefully designed to fade away just around the time you got to know how to use one, masterfully done lol
    replies(1): >>44372285 #
    5. giraffe_lady ◴[24 Jun 25 23:49 UTC] No.44372285[source]▶
    The mechanism is probably good forever but the bottom ring is liable to crack over time. They usually last me a decade or so which is fine for the price.
    6. giraffe_lady ◴[24 Jun 25 23:53 UTC] No.44372302[source]▶
    If it were the other way it would tighten with use and eventually strip the threads or crack the wood top. Anyway it's an almost unbelievably petty bit of cooking technique but there is actually a "correct" way to hold and turn a pepper grinder lol.

    Your palm is meant to hold the nut in place. On the old ones the tightness of the nut was the control for fineness so it was necessary to hold it as you turned anyway. They moved that control to its own thing on the bottom a few decades ago (iirc) but kept the rest of it the same.

    7. SchemaLoad ◴[25 Jun 25 03:00 UTC] No.44373293[source]▶
    Ikea makes one with ceramic burrs which also solves the issue most of them have where the grinder faces down and drops grinds on your table.
    replies(2): >>44374430 #>>44377371 #
    8. khafra ◴[25 Jun 25 06:05 UTC] No.44374065[source]▶
    Hario ceramic coffee grinders also work for pepper.
    9. globular-toast ◴[25 Jun 25 07:13 UTC] No.44374430[source]▶
    OXO too. The IKEA one does appear to be glass and cheaper, though. Looks good.
    10. dominicrose ◴[25 Jun 25 10:12 UTC] No.44375534[source]▶
    My grandmother has a very old Peugeot grinder. The new ones are much smaller and look like the ones from other brands, but I guess with higher quality.
    11. sunnybeetroot ◴[25 Jun 25 13:54 UTC] No.44377371[source]▶
    Could you tell me which model as they have a few?
    replies(1): >>44382575 #
    12. SchemaLoad ◴[25 Jun 25 22:57 UTC] No.44382575{3}[source]▶
    The 365+ is the one I've got https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/ikea-365-ihaerdig-spice-mill-bl...