Customer Reviews

Chef'n Pepper Ball, Clear

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

It may be good for people with weak hands...as long as they don't really want a lot of pepper. I found the amount of pepper ground per squeeze minimal. My hand gets tired before I get an amount ground equivalent to two twists on a $2.59 self-contained pepper with disposable mill from the condiments section of any grocery store. Half of the pepper stays in the ball to fill the grinder teeth and further reduce the output.
Although advertised as a one hand pepper mill, it is best used as a two handed device. The squeezing action tends to broadcast the ground pepper over a wide area. If you wish to concentrate in a bowl or on a food item, one hand has to steady it over your target.
Refill is a challenge and equivalent time is spent picking up pepper corns that bounce off the small, almost perfectly hidden fill slot.
Again style overrides functionality.

I've got both the salt and pepper balls and find them very convenient to use when cooking but I don't care for them at the table.

things I like about them:

1) easy to see when it's almost empty
2) easy to grab and use when stirring with other hand
3) Easy for a lefty to use-no fumbling or anything "backwards"
4) easy to refill. The base piece fits over/into the refill hole and works as a funnel-no mess, no fuss!
5) small enough to leave next to stove-no giant peppermill to accidentally knock over.

things I don't like about them:

1) generally it grinds a little unevenly and leaves some large chunks-either that or I don't have it adjusted quite right. It's a little hard for me to tell which direction to adjust it.
2) relatively small holding capacity. (but the pepper is fresher, I suppose....)
3) the number of squeezes needed to dispense the desired amount of pepper.

Will I keep it and continue using it? Absolutely. They're just too convenient and useful even with the drawbacks-and I love fresh-ground pepper!

This one works very well for me. I've had so many standard grinders bind up and break. This one is easy to use. And would work well for people who only have the use of one hand.

This product works well, for awhile. I enjoy how quickly it grinds pepper, as I like a lot. But I have gone through two of these now, with the "ears" eventually just breaking off. The original version of this device was pretty good. This version is cheap and not worth the money.

I've had my Chef 'N pepper ball for about 5 years now. I use it many times every day, and it has been the sole pepper grinder that I have used during this time. For the last 3 years, it has not performed well. I paid about $20.00 for it when I bought it. I'd say that it performed adequately for the first couple of years (not great, but OK). However, the grinding mechanism, which looks kind of like a plastic washboard, has worn smooth over the years. Now, it seems to take forever to grind a half-teaspoon of pepper (5 minutes, last time I counted). It only grinds when set at the coarsest setting (fine setting never worked well, even when new).

On the plus side - it was less expensive than other pepper grinders and was easy to use one-handedly.

I also own both the salt ball and the pepper ball and have to disagree with the previous reviewer; I find both useful at the table but very unhelpful when cooking. The balls are both great when seasoning food, but do not work at all for recipes that require exact amounts. The opening at the bottom of the ball is extremely large, and attempting to direct what is coming out into a teaspoon or tablespoon is worthless- you'll use up all of the pepper before for you get whatever measurement you need.

Additionally, mine (ordered from amazon.com) did not come with the stand the product claims to have. Therefore, when the ball is sitting on the counter, it is very susceptible to picking up things around it- any sort of spilt liquid will go up into the ball (especially the salt one) and ruin whatever is inside. I also do agree that both balls produce very inconsistent salt and pepper- even whole pepper balls will come through mine. Also, the amount of pepper inside at the beginning is very limited (mine was only 1/4 full when I got it). However, if you are able to keep them dry and don't mind refills, these balls will give you freshly ground salt and pepper, are easy to use, and can make a cute addition to the table.

I do believe both are overpriced for what they can do, as you will wind up paying $30 for the set. You might want to consider either paying an extra $10 for a more durable and effective set or sticking with the cheaper, non-mill varieties.

Very hard to get any actual pepper to come out of this thing. I just put some pepper on eggs and it took over 10 squeezes. Imagine trying to grind pepper out for a stock pot full of soup. Impossible!

to get any amount of pepper to come out, and if the ball isn't pretty much completely full, forget it. and I had to keep turning it around so that the pepper was hitting the grinder at the correct angle. if all you want is a token dollop of pepper, this is fine, but then you probably don't really like pepper much, just the thought and look of it. And forget trying to get a precise grind for a specific recipe.

PS: THE HANDLES BROKE OFF ALTOGETHER AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS! DON'T BUY!

I bought this grinder because it could be operated with one hand. However I was very disappointed in the volume of pepper it puts out per squeeze. If you are looking for a good wrist strength training exerciser this is your grinder.

I basically bought this because it looked really cool - and it is. It's fun to use, and cool because it's one-handed, but it doesn't put out a lot of pepper per squeeze. Definitely handy, though.