Hey smarty pants. If there are three things I love, lunch is two of them.
Of course, you can't eat lunch until you've eaten breakfast, so...right now, I'm having some scrambled eggs, plain, with nothing on them.
Excuse me while I take the first bite.
Whoa, whoa! Don't eat that yet!
Ah, who are you? And how'd you get on my shoulder?
hey how you doing the name's salty thinking me like a salt fairy.
A salt fairy? that's right tough guy.
well you do look a little like a salt shaker with wings.
I couldn't help noticing you don't got no salt on your eggs.
I never put salt on my eggs I like him plain.
Plain? what's the matter with you have you even tried salt on your eggs?
no I guess I haven't but.
so how do you know you don't like it if you ain't never tried it.
True. You probably sound like every parent listening right now, am I right?
Hey -o! huh. Who are you and how'd you get on my other shoulder?
It's just me, Pop, the peppery pepper fairy.
Oh, of course you're a little pepper mill.
Also with wings. You know what they say a A pinch of pepper makes everything better.
I've never said that.
Oh, hey Salty. Sup, Pep.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here.
Same. Obviously you two know each other.
After all, you pretty much always see and hear about Salt and Pepper.
Together. Unfortunately.
Most unfortunately.
Wait. Do you two not get along?
No, we get along. It's, you know, just. People only tend to think of us together, when in fact we're quite different.
Salt is the very essence of flavor, and has been used by humankind for centuries.
Scratch that, millennia.
I am a man of all seasonings.
Yeah, well, Pepper adds a perfect punch, and the peppercorn that ground pepper comes from has also been around quite a long time, too.
And I don't just enhance flavor like this white sand does.
I actually changed a flavor of food to something.
Spicy or sharp. You got it.
I'm telling you, trusty narrator, add a dash of meat to your eggs.
No, add me. Yikes. Smarty pants, which should I try?
Have you ever tried salt and pepper?
Can you really have one without the other?
And how? Why and when did salt and pepper become so commonly used in pretty much everything.
It's time for a spicy whiff of science and history on...
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With pre -portioned ingredients there's less prep, less mess, and more time to enjoy delicious meals.
Green Chef's easy to follow directions means my kitchen -phobic family members actually cook when we get our Chef kit, and it's a great way to get your kids involved in the kitchen too.
Plus, Green Chef is owned by HelloFresh, which lets me switch between the brands for even more variety, and now my listeners can enjoy both at a discount with me.
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Smarty Pants, you've probably noticed Salt and Pepper in their own little shakers or containers at most restaurants, diners, or even your dinner table at home.
Add me. Add me. No. Add me.
Add me. But why is that?
What makes Salt and Pepper the go -to pairing?
Well, first, let's answer a basic question.
Are salt and pepper a condiment, like ketchup and mustard, or a seasoning?
Did you say both? Well, if so, you're right.
While salt is a mineral and pepper is a spice, both are considered seasonings and condiments.
Good stuff, trusty.
You're going to add me to your eggs now?
Don't forget me, if you want to really bring the flavor.
Okay, okay, okay. Hang on.
I've never added salt or pepper to my scrambled eggs before, so before I add one, or both of you, I need to know more about you.
Fine. Let me tell you how great salt is.
Then I can tell you why pepper is better.
Yeah, that's just it.
You two are pretty biased.
I need an impartial source of information, which is why I ordered a book on the history of salt and pepper.
Ah, hi. I've got a delivery here for, ah, trusty narrator.
That's me, thanks! Best of all, it's the completely downloadable into my brain version.
I just need to stick these electrodes to my head.
Next, I'll just upload the data.
Aha! Now I know everything there is to know about salt and pepper.
Okay, smarty pants.
While it's true that both salt and pepper are the dynamic duo of dining.
It wasn't until fairly recently, 17th Century France, to be exact, that they were brought together, in culinary harmony… Bibi!
Excuse me, Monsieur, but who are you?
And what are you doing in my kitchen?
Don't mind me, French chef, I'm just the trusty narrator here to show the smarty pants the origins of salt.
Yo, how are you doin'?
And pepper. Hey yo!
I see. Should I be concerned that my ingredients are talking?
No. It happens all the time on Who Smarted.
Anywho, the year is 1650 and things look surprisingly similar to what you'd see around the kitchen today.
What's cooking, Chef?
Why, I have a roast chicken, a piece, how you say?
A soup? And... Hey, is that scrambled eggs?
Oui! Le omelette! Tell me, French chef, do you use a lot of salt and pepper in your scrambled eggs?
L 'Omelette. Yes, l 'Omelette.
But of course, salt is the essence of flavor.
And pepper is the king or queen of all spices.
Aha! And what about other spices or seasonings?
Do you use anything else?
Eh, not really. Smarty Pants, what do you think the reason for that is?
Is it because other spices didn't exist, or weren't available yet?
Or because other spices were too common?
The answer, surprisingly, is that other spices from around the world were too common. Huh?
Oui, it is true. Even exotic spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon were commonly available to pretty much anyone in France.
And, since these spices from India, China, and the Americas were no longer associated with wealth and status, the French elite believed less is more.
So, they decided to keep it simple, and just used the two seasonings that brought the most flavor to the party.
A little salt, and some pepper.
And this less is more approach to spice became not only the rule of thumb in 17th century France but is still used in today's cooking.
Of course only one of us is actually a spice.
Hey! That's true. Do you remember from earlier what I said salt was?
That's right, salt is actually a mineral known as sodium chloride.
Which means you come from a rock!
Alright, so I'm a mineral!
But hey, did you know I'm the only family of rocks eaten by people?
That's pretty cool!
Well, you know what else is cool?
There are also tons of uses for salt, besides eating it.
In fact, only 6 % of salt in the United States is used for food.
Smarty Pants, can you guess what other uses there are for salt?
A, keeping ice off roads and sidewalks.
B, helping plants to grow.
C, to relax in the bathtub.
Or D, all of the above.
If you answered D, all of the above, you're right.
and that's not even all of it the list for using me goes on and on and on oh really really true or false salt can preserve food and keep it fresh false nope it's true before refrigeration people would coat their food particularly meat and fish with salt allowing it to remain edible for longer periods of time Ooh!
This is also called curing.
Ah. True or false, your body requires salt to be healthy.
That has to be false.
The answer is coming up right after this quick break.
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Now, who's ready to make history?
Hey, smarty parents, I love Green Chef because of how absolutely easy the meals are to make and how every night, it feels like we're eating at a restaurant right at home!
The variety is excellent and includes meals for special diets like Keto, gluten -free, and calorie -smart.
With pre -portioned ingredients, there's less prep, less mess, and more time to enjoy delicious meals.
Green Chef's easy to follow directions means my kitchen -phobic family members actually cook when we get our green chef kit!
And it's a great way to get your kids involved in the kitchen too.
Plus, Green Chef is owned by HelloFresh, which lets me switch between the brands for even more variety.
And now my listeners can enjoy both at a discount with me.
Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from GreenChef.
Go to greenchef .com slash smarted free and use code smartedfree to get free salads for two months plus 50 % off your first box.
That's greenchef .com slash smarted free and use code smartedfree to get free salads for 2 months, plus 50 % off your first box.
Green Chef, the number one meal kit for eating well.
Now back to who's smarted.
So true or false, your body requires salt to be healthy.
Sorry, Pep. But it's true.
Haha, told ya. Smarty pants, there's salt in every cell in your body.
Humans typically need an average of 200 milligrams of salt per day.
What do ya know? Looks like you can't live without me.
Okay, last one. True or false?
The word salary comes from the Latin word for salt.
If you guessed true, nice.
In ancient Rome, salt was considered a form of currency.
Thanks for fixing my arch, Tiberius.
How much salt do I owe you?
And before that, salt was used by the ancient Egyptians as religious offerings to the gods.
Ooh! Salt was buried with people and was even used in the mummification process.
Whoa. That's right.
I hung out with mummies.
I'd rather be in someone's tummy than in a mummy.
Eh, you're just jelly.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no reason to be jealous, Pep.
Just like Salt, Pepper is also good for people.
Aah! Pepper is rich in magnesium and vitamin K, and it even helps with digestion.
Yay, pepper rocks. Yeah, well, I come from rocks.
True, but pepper starts out as something pretty unexpected too.
Smarty Pants, can you guess what peppercorns, the things that get ground up into pepper, actually start out as?
Is it A, pine cones, B, tree bark, or C, berries?
If you said berries, you're right.
Pepper corns — those little round pellets inside your pepper grinder — are actually berries.
Pepper corns get picked when they turn bright red.
Then they're boiled and dried out, kind of like how a grape turns into a raisin.
Only this kind of raisin isn't sweet.
It's spicy. OK, so I'm really a berry, big deal.
It's actually a berry big deal because someone somewhere decided to pick you, boil you, dry you out, and grind you up, and it allowed you to become the most valuable, most traded spice in the world.
Ah, what do you say to that, Salty?
Hey, I was the one used as currency.
And actually, Pepper was also used as currency.
In fact, back in ancient Rome, both salt and pepper were traded for goods and services.
I'm actually out of salt, can I pay you in pepper?
Yeah well I was in mummies.
You sure were. But it turns out, when archaeologists uncovered the tomb of King Ramesses II, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt from 1279 -1212 BCE, they found something peculiar stuffed in the great king's nostrils.
Any guess what it was?
I don't want to know.
Ha ha, I know, peppercorns.
That's right. They found two peppercorns tucked inside his mummified nose.
Achoo! Pepper was considered so valuable that people wanted to put it up the noses of royalty for all eternity.
Hey, congratulations.
We're both kind of gross.
But also really valuable.
You've also been paired together, and appreciated by people, for a really long time.
It's time you two got along.
Ah, you're right. Sorry I was so salty, pep.
Sorry I got so hot, salty.
Great. Now, can I eat my scrambled eggs?
I'm starving. Whoa, seriously?
You're not even going to try us?
Fine. Here goes. Mmm, the salt really brings out the flavor of the eggs.
And the pepper adds the perfect amount of kick.
There's just one problem.
What? What's wrong?
My eggs got cold, but I'm sure the dog will like them.
Here, Luna. Here, girl.
A big shout -out to Catalina and Luca in San Diego, California.
These two eagle -eared smarty pants caught a mistake in our competitive eating episode and helped prove that we had the smartest fans of all.
Keep smarting, you two!
This episode, Salt and Pepper, was written by Nat Brower and voiced by Adam Texdavis, Jenny Chan, Max Kamaski, and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound designed by Josh Salty -Han, who smarted and is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Spicy -Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Pepper Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Text Davis who smarted was created and produced by Adam Text Davis and Jerry Colburn this has been an atomic entertainment production
