Meet Pepper Bunny

This is Pepper Bunny. He does a pretty good job of grinding peppercorns and I love that he can be used one-handed, so as long as I have one non-raw chicken-y hand I can still crank out some fresh-ground pepper. It’s cheaper to buy peppercorns in bulk and there’s the whole not buying endless plastic containers of pepper. Plus, fresh-cracked tastes better. But here’s the thing: Pepper Bunny is kind of an asshat.

And because of this, I delay refilling Pepper Bunny as long as I can. I mean, I’ll keep shaking and cranking away until I’m just sprinkling pepper dust, not cracked pepper.

You see, Pepper Bunny has this really teeny tiny little hole that’s supposed to slide open—but never does on the first try—and that opens up right onto the crank mechanism. So, basically, you can drop in two peppercorns at a time. Argh!

I’ve tried all kinds of tricks, like using a coffee filter to try and funnel the peppercorns past the crank mechanism. Never works. So all I can do is use our silicone funnel and “milk” it, pushing peppercorns in two or three at a time.