Big holes or little holes?

[muriel3002]

Okay, silly question today.

I'm stumped. I've recently cleaned my silver, and I have this pair of salt and pepper shakers - both the same, except one top has bigger holes than the other.

?Salt goes in which one? Bigger holes - I assume for people who like lots of salt. However, I love pepper, and wouldn't want the salt to come pouring out....

Opinions, rules or whatever welcome here.

[Magix]

Yep, salt goes in the one with the bigger holes. If I were you, I'd stick to the convention, otherwise you might have guests piling on the pepper by accident. :)

[jtoepfert100]

I disagree (and this is a hot topic in my house). I was always taught that since the salt comes out faster than the pepper, it should go in the shaker with smaller holes.

[syzygy]

Well, this isn't an issue in my house since we use a pepper grinder. :p

However, a cousin used to collect ceramic S&P sets, and all the ones that were obvious as to which was S and which was P (either marked as such or color coded) the salt shaker always had larger holes than the pepper shaker.

[tamawrite]

Originally posted by jtoepfert100
I disagree (and this is a hot topic in my house). I was always taught that since the salt comes out faster than the pepper, it should go in the shaker with smaller holes.

That's how I learned it.

[ccooney]

Originally posted by jtoepfert100
I disagree (and this is a hot topic in my house). I was always taught that since the salt comes out faster than the pepper, it should go in the shaker with smaller holes.

DITTO.:)

[sharon]

Apparently there is no right or wrong, although in our house pepper goes in the one with the most holes. Here's what Yahoo says:

Monday January 26, 2004

Dear Yahoo!:
Which goes in the shaker with more holes -- salt or pepper?
Shaken With Doubt
Hamden, Connecticut

Dear Shaken:
Until quite recently, when we started receiving this question from a number of readers, we were blissfully unaware this was the source of much controversy and debate. We had always been taught that salt went in the shaker with more holes and never thought to question this piece of wisdom.

However, our confidence was strongly shaken when we started researching the matter and learned that this question of dining etiquette is far from set in stone. We found many sources that completely disagreed with each other with complete authority. For example, About.com states that traditionally, pepper was more expensive than its easier-to-come-by companion salt, and so pepper was placed in the shaker with fewer holes to reduce usage. On the other hand, the International Guild of Professional Butlers asserts that salt shakers generally have larger and fewer holes to accommodate the larger, heavier grains that flow faster than pepper, although they do admit there is no manufacturing standard.

One web site indicated there seem to be two distinct camps in this matter -- the "Flow" camp and the "Flavor" camp. The Flow camp preaches that pepper grains are larger than salt grains and hence need more holes to equalize the flow between the two condiments. Interestingly enough, we found this same argument reversed on several sites, which claimed that salt is coarser than pepper and thus goes in the shaker with more holes. Guess it depends on the types of salt and pepper you are using.

The Flavor camp dictates that since people tend to use more salt than pepper, the salt should go in the shaker with more holes. Of course, if you are one of many people on a salt-restricted diet, this solution may not make sense for you.

Sadly, Miss Manners and Emily Post did not seem to have any say on the matter, and even our favorite food reference site, epicurious.com, was of no help.

Our conclusion? Unless you have the kind of cutesy shakers where the holes spell out an "S" or a "P," feel free to go with the flow and do whatever suits you. Now that that's settled, pass the salt, please!

[RunnerKim]

Wow I didn't know controversary surrounded this issue either!

I was always taught that the one with more holes was for pepper. The reasoning had to do with being able to see pepper and thus easier to control how much you put on (plus salt flows easier and faster and you don't need as many holes).

Hmmmmm.

Kim