This episode of Culinary Adventures isn’t so much an adventure as an observation and question to which I cannot find an easy answer.

I’ve been using freshly ground black pepper since I was a student – so some 50 years or more. And until a year or so ago, had you asked me, I would have said that I hardly noticed it imparting a great deal of flavour.

But this last year or two I’ve noticed that freshly ground black pepper is much stronger, really peppery, and really fragrant. It’s a different hotness to chilli, which I like. And it doesn’t seem to matter how finely or coarsely it is ground.

So why am I suddenly noticing the change?

Sure, we could have unwittingly recently brought a different, better, brand – but it must have happened several times over the last couple of years. Or are the peppercorns we’re getting now from a new/different cultivar? Or from a totally different growing region? Does the terroir affect the potency, in the way it affects wine? Are the peppercorns being processed differently?

Or is it that my ageing taste buds and olfactory sensors have suddenly changed? (And no, it isn’t down to Covid affecting smell & taste.)

I don’t know the answer. Has anyone else noticed this? Or does anyone have good knowledge of peppercorn production?