Monterey Bay Herb Co. Black Peppercorn (16 Mesh) - Premium Ground Pepper Essential Spice for Seasoning & Cooking (1lb Bag)

I recently purchased this Black Peppercorn and I couldn’t be more impressed! This pepper is rich, bold, and packed with fresh aroma and flavor. The 16 mesh grind is the perfect consistency—not too fine, not too coarse—ideal for everything from seasoning steaks and roasting vegetables to finishing soups and sauces.The 1lb bag is generous and offers excellent value for the quality. This is now my go-to pepper for both everyday use and smokig meats.Highly recommended for anyone who takes their seasoning seriously. Once you try this, you’ll never go back to store-bought pepper again!

Good product arrived sealed and nicely packed. I was looking for a more coarsely ground black pepper to use while smoking Meats in the backyard. This fit perfectly! Will buy again.

Best brisket yet

Freshness and Taste - I've purchased the San Antonio before and have been pleased but they didn't have the 16oz on Amazon, so I decided to 3 small sizes and compare smaller sized Lane's and Monterrey Bay to see if I was still buying the best. I'm using these products on BBQ, primarily beef brisket. Brisket is a long smoke, so I don't mind a fresh flavor to my pepper (ie. strong flavor) because it mellows over the long cook. When I compare these 3, the San Antonio was the freshest and tastiest, then Monterrey, then Lane's. The SA and MB were so close though I could hardly tell the difference and maybe some bias crept in. I think both are fine. The Lane's was also close but I could distinctly taste some staleness. The pepper is still very good, just not as fresh.Now on to the #16 Mesh debate. In my experiment, all 3 are actually #16 Mesh sized pepper. I setup a comparison to a "control pepper" that I knew for sure was #16 mesh. It might not be completely clear on the picture but all looked to be the same size. I have all kinds of pepper sizes in my pantry and these 3 are what they claim to be. IDK what the other reviewers are comparing to but I think they are just guessing.One more note on Lane's - I had the same experience as a lot of other reviewers when it comes to the freshness seal at the lid of this product not being affixed properly. The seal is printed with "sealed for freshness" but mine came off with the cap (if you look closely at the picture, you'll see how it came off). If you worry about safety, then do not purchase. I can look past it for that reason, HOWEVER, it speaks to Lane's packing quality and maybe the freshness of the product? The other 2 products are sealed airtight in plastic bags.

Being a long time outdoor grill and smoker chef, I am always looking for ways to improve my product and results. Recently, I bought a bar-b-q book by world famous Aaron Franklin. Mr. Franklin has a line of hungry people at his restaurant starting before 8 in the morning and most don't get to eat for at least 3 hours. His business is in Austin, Texas and we live in the area, too. I wanted to see what he had to say about smoking meat and maybe garner some knowledge from him.One of the surprises was to learn that his BBQ rub or seasoning is pretty simple. It consists of cracked black pepper and Kosher salt. That's it. But, the pepper has to be a certain spec to work, according to Mr. Franklin. He insists on 16 mesh black pepper that is the results of shaking crushed or cracked pepper on a screen of a certain size so all of the the pepper is approximately the same size. His reasoning is that the pepper and Kosher salt grains will both be about the same size on the meat. He says the bigger grains of seasoning actually catches some of the smoke that rolls over it and helps the meat to absorb the smoke.So, simply, I found this pepper on Amazon and it was the right size so I purchased it to give it a try. One other thing. Mr. Franklin suggests NOT using freshly cracked or crushed pepper because it will have a stronger scent and might overpower the meat. He says it is better to use black pepper that has been crushed or cracked for a couple of months or so. I found that the Monterey Bay Peppercorn Black - 16 Mesh was just right for my purposes. It did not overpower the meat that it was used on, but helped lend a nice mild taste and a crunchy texture to the meat.We tried it and Kosher salt on some prime top sirloin strip steaks that we grilled at 600 degrees. It was delicious. This pepper worked perfectly in tandem with the Kosher salt for seasoning these quality steaks.

Excellent pepper. Great for making a good bark on brisket and beef ribs.

Perfect for my rub!

I probably wouldn't use this on steaks, but I've been happy with the freshness and quality of this black pepper for use in BBQ rubs. It's a decent value.