How to Repair Your Peugeot Wet Salt Grinder
Peugeot makes just about the best pepper and salt mills in the world. The pepper grinders have a lifetime warranty and do a superb job cracking and then shaving the pepper to volatilize all the aromatic and flavor elements of the pepper. Peugeot’s salt mills are likewise sturdy and reliable, and do a great job at delivering a consistent grind.
That said, Peugeot’s Guérande salt mill, which is especially designed to grind wet sea salts such as Sel Gris (aka gray salt, grey salt, gros sel, Celtic salt, Brittany salt, etc.) can cause people trouble from time to time. For the sake of helping anyone who has had trouble with Peugeot wet salt mills, I offer up the following exchange with a customer from The Meadow.
JD writes:
“Last year we purchased several product from you, including a Peugeot salt and pepper grinder — the one specifically for grey salt. While the salt grinder never worked extremely well, it was adequate. But in the last
couple months it stopped working entirely. We have tried emptying it and starting with fresh salt, and we’ve tried different kinds of grey salt. This a.m. I even tried coarse Kosher salt. That didn’t work either.
Do you have any suggestions or remedies?
Thanks, JD
++++
Dear JD,
There are a number of solutions I would suggest. To get started, we need to know a few things:
First, are you sure it is a salt mill? Some Peugeot mills do not mark the mill with a P for pepper or an S for salt. The way to tell for sure is to look at the bottom of the mill. If the grinding mechanism in the bottom is indented, and looks to be made of polished
stainless steel or nickel, and has Peugeot Freres stamped on the bottom, it is a regular, rock salt mill. (To the right, I have photographed pepper, dry salt, and wet salt from left to right. Click an image to enlarge.)
If the mechanism is made of off-white ceramic, it is a wet salt (Guerande-style) salt mill. Mechanism for wet sea salt: This mechanism was specifically developed for Guérande salt (meaning grey salts from the ancient Celtic saltmaking region just south of Britany, France); it enables the sea salt to be ground despite his high degree of humidity. The spiral shaft prevents the salt from becoming compressed and guides the salt crystals towards the mechanism made of a composite material which is not liable to saline corrosion.
Obviously there is trouble if you have a pepper mill and are using salt in it. Peugeot pepper mill mechanism: The shape with a double row of helicoid teeth guides the pepper grains blocks them while they are being crushed. This unique system enables the fineness of the grind to be varied simply by turning the button on the mill: from ground pepper to powdered pepper. The pepper mechanism has the advantage of a patented process which protects the steel from corrosion while keeping its sharpness and its resistance to wear.
If you have a regular, rock salt mill, you will have trouble using Sel Gris in it due to the residual moisture in the salt, which gums up the works. You would need to by the correct type of rock salt, such as Tidman’s Rock Sea Salt, Alaea Volcanic, Andes Mountain Rose, or Himalayan Pink Salt.
So… Assuming you do have a Guerande style mill, the problem is likely that you have excess moisture in the salt. This is perfectly normal.
While Peugeot makes among the best mills available, there are limitations to their Guerande wet mills in that they cannot handle some of the very wet sel gris. The moisture in Sel Gris is one of the chief attractions of the salt, especially when using it as a finishing salt–and you never want to buy it from a store where they allow it to dry out.
That said, if the mill is giving you trouble you can take a quantity that you wish to put in you mill and leave it out on a plate or bowl overnight, or longer if necessary, to allow some of that excess moisture to evaporate off.
Last, your mill may be totally gummed up and unable to function properly no matter what you put in it right now. If that is the case, you can just open it up and rinse it with warm water for a minute or two. Then, leave it open and allow it to dry very thoroughly — at least two days.
Then fill the mill with your slightly dried out salt, be sure that when you screw the top back on you don’t tighten it down too much, and give it a go. This should solve your problems.
Pepper mechanism
The shape with a double row of helicoid teeth guides the pepper grains blocks them while they are being crushed. This unique system enables the fineness of the grind to be varied simply by turning the button on the mill: from ground pepper to powdered pepper. The pepper mechanism has the advantage of a patented process which protects the steel from corrosion while keeping its sharpness and its resistance to wear.
Salt mechanism
The Peugeot mechanism is designed to grind coarse dry sea salt. Made of stainless steel, it is protected from salt corrosion.
Mark Bitterman :: Aug.01.2008 :: Gourmet Salt :: 20 Comments »
Hello,
Thank you for this article. I have a Peugeot dry salt grinder and am completely at a loss for how to assemble it and refill. Can you please advise?
Kind regards,
Talar
What model of Peugeot mill do you have? If you don’t know, just describe its basic shape, etc. Is it a manual mill or an electric one?
I have a Peugeot Pepper Mill, a short squat style that is no longer made. Nothing is wrong with the grinder but the wooden insert that contains the grinder has come unglued, so that the entire mechanism turns, and doesn’t grind the pepper. Do you know where I could send this to be repaired?
Hi I’ve just found your article as we are also having problems with our Peugeot salt grinder. Having read what you have to say, I suspect that we are using the wrong salt, but am not experienced enough to be sure. We have what you describe as a dry salt machine and have tried Maldon Sea salt. Now one from Mauritius called Pavion and referred to on the packet as Gros sel – Sea salt (a present from a neighbour so probably not readily available here). Our intention when this packet is finished is to support a new company here in Cornwall, UK which is now producing local sea salt – are all these types of what you call Sel gris? We’ve certainly enjoyed them and don’t want to switch to anything inferior, but the grinder is proving pretty useless on them. Would drying out the salt more help it to work with the dry salt machine?
Thanks in anticipation of your help, TW
TW, you are indeed using the incorrect salts for your mill. The Pavion Gros Sel from Mauritius (?) you are using is a sel gris, which contains residual moisture. The Maldon sea salt is a flake salt, which is a fine flake that does not need grinding, and which also can absorb moisture from out of the air and become too moist, gumming up the works of your mill in that way. You will have similarly bad results with the Cornish sea salt you refer to, as that is also a fine flake. For a salt from your neck of the woods that will work splendidly in a traditional salt grinder, I recommend Tidman’s Rock salt. It’s made by the Maldon salt company. Very mild, buttery, and slightly sweet.
Hello,
I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Peugot Pepper Mill that I purchased 2 years ago and I have never been able to get it to work. I have tried wet salt, grey salt and most recently dry large crystal sea salt and this is the salt that the store instructed me to use. It still will not work at all. By your description I do have the dry salt type. Any suggestions at this point?
Kathy
Kathy, the first thing we need to do is figure out the kind of mill you have. You say above that you bought a pepper mill, but then you talk about putting salt in it. Just to be sure, check what type of mechanism you have, as Peugeot pepper mills won’t grind salt, and Peugeot salt grinders won’t mill pepper! Click on this link and determine which of the three grinding mechanism you have: http://www.saltnews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/peugeot4.jpg
Your Peugeot mill should look like the one in the middle. If that is the case, then the problem is likely that the mechanism has been gummed up by using the wrong salts in the past. You should dismantle it completely, then wash it in cold water for 1 minute, and then dry everything thoroughly with a paper towel and leave to dry overnight in a warm, dry place. Then replace it with an approved salt, such as the Tidman’s Rock sea salt, Andes Mountain Rose salt, Himalayan Pink salt, or Aleae Volcanic Hawaiian sea salt, or others, which we sell at http://www.atthemeadow.com
Good info…we have a Peugeot dry salt grinder per your picture and description, and we have tried a few salts, lastly the Spice Islands, Mediterranean Sea Salt that comes in a plastic adjustable grinder (that works well by the way), and it all comes out very fine and powdery. Is this the usual result you get when the salt is too wet or the workings are gummed up? I have read the posts on this site and nobody really describes what the salt looks like when it does come out poorly, and I am trying to figure out if I have the same problem as so many others have mentioned (seems like wet salt), or do I really have a bum grinder ?? Does not matter what coarseness setting I use, it all comes out as fine, almost not even crystal looking “salt dust” is how I would describe it. Any comments or replies welcomed. Frank
By the way, we live in the US and our grinder is appears to be a wooden one, about 8 inches tall and painted maroon or red. Is it still OK to wash it in water and what brand of salt do you suggest for us here please ? Thanks again.
Frank
I was given a supposedly brilliant Peugeot electric set of pepper and salt mills by my daughter iwho bought it in Sydney. I was thrilled because I have other Peugeot pepper grinders which are the best. But I was bitterly disappointed to discover that the salt mill does not work. I have tried different rock salts, including Khoi San salt which is supposed to among the best in the world, and nothing works. I live in South Africa and visited my daughter in Sydney. I went to the shop where she bought it and they said I was using the wrong salt and sold me a packet of the “correct” salt. It was no better. It looks so good and yet is useless. In addition, the exterior rubber or composit material covering the outside of the mill has gone all tacky and I cannot remove this as it says “don’t use detergent”. What should I do? Can you give me the e-mail address of Peugeot so that I can send a message to the managing director.
Thank you,
Penny
Penny, I’m very sorry you are having such troubles with your salt mill. I have some ideas about how to remedy the problems you are having, but it sounds to me like you are very frustrated with your experience, and so I will work first at finding the best authority at Peugeot toward whom you can address your issues. I’m traveling right now for the next 3 weeks, but I will try to help along the way. The primary problem you are having is, as others have already suggested, likely due to 1 or any combination of problems: wrong salt (Koi San salt is moist, and will gum up your mill, and once gummed up, it will need to be cleaned before using again); wrong mill (be absolutely sure this is a salt mill, not a pepper mill); and very likely, the mill is adjusted too fine (Peugeot allows the mill coarseness settings to go VERY fine, when medium would provide best results for most salts. As a result, even OKAY salts still gum up the works). If you were in the U.S., I would love to repair your mill myself! Regardless, I will get on the task of finding you an authoritative contact.
Hi Mark, i have 2 Peugeot salt grinder with mechanisms like the one on the left of the picture. I have been using ordinary rock salt purchased in our local supermarket (Johannesburg) and after some usage time, it is now not working! What salt should i be using? Please help!
I purchased from Williams Sonoma an 2-8″ electric acrylic/stainless steel salt & pepper mills. I am so impressed with the high tech grinders, but disappointed that the salt mill is restricted to processed dry white salt. Not knowing I would need a special mill for moist mineral salt, such as Celtic sea salt. Does the Peugeot Freres company make a product for grinding moist salt. I actually do not even use processed dry white salt, so my present product is virtually useless to me – and it cost a pretty penny! Is there a way that I could put a suggestion in with the complany? It’s very disappointing.
Hello K,
Unfortunately, there is little you can do with your Williams Sonoma mill in terms of wet salts. The solution for wet salts is here: http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_62_66&products_id=138
Alternately, we could set you up with a nice, hard, dry sea salt that will taste very nice, work great with your Wiliams Sonoma salt grinder and definitely upgrade the quality of your table salt. My three favorites are:
http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8
http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=364
and http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=323
i have an approx 3″ wooden pepper mill that says peugeot france on the bottom. the mechanism has come off center and it does not grind properly. if peugeot has a lifetime warrenty. where do i send it to be repaired or replaced? thanks.
I have a peugeot salt and pepper shaker. Lately when I go to grind the salt and huge amount comes out uncontrollably-Please help
Peugeot salt and pepper mills warranty and contact information is located here: http://www.psp-peugeot-usa.com/support/overview.htm
Peugeot’s list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) is here: http://www.psp-peugeot-usa.com/support/faq.htm
Peugeot Salt and Pepper Mills Customer Service department.
Toll Free: 1-877-777-5914.
Email: info@psp-peugeot-usa.com
Lezli,
I can think of 3 three possible problems:
1. if you are using the wrong kind of salt, like a flakey salt such as Maldon, or alternately any fine sea salt or (dare I say it, Kosher salt), then the problem could be the salt. Only coarse, dry traditional salts or rock salt should be used in a salt mill. I recommend Tidman’s or Andes Mountain rose, both of which are available on our website here:
http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_93&products_id=323
and here:
http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=364
2. the problem could be that you have the mill adjusted too coarsely. You should be able to tighten the salt mill by twisting the know on the top or the adjuster on the bottom, depending on the model you have.
3. your mill could be broken. If you can send me a picture of the mill and of the grinding mechanism at the bottom I could advise…
Keep plugging away, it will work!
Mark,
You were right on the money ! I let my salt shaker dry out for at least a week. I then purchased Tidman’s rock salt. It is grinding as if I just purchased the salt shaker-Thanks so much ,
Lezli
Mark,
Thanks so much for your advice. I let the mill dry out for about a week. Then I purchase Tidman’s rock salt. It works ! Thanks so much-
Lezli