pepper: white vs. black

[Hannah]

I don't use black pepper b/c I was told it gets stuck somewhere ( the colon maybe?)due to tiny barbs on the pepper. But I do use white pepper. Recently, someone asked me about whether white pepper is really OK to use and I didn't really know the answer...do you have any info about it?

[shelley]

Okay, if you're really cleansing the liver, then ideally, what you want to do is to infuse whatever you cook with whole black, green or white peppercorns, and then remove them before you eat. That way they cannot get stuck anywhere, and yep, they can get stuck once they've been ground up. Or switch your heats, try mustard seeds instead. Very hot, don't need much.

Most white pepper that I've seen is ground up to a very fine powder, finer than salt. This is perfectly fine.