salt-and-pepper

Salt crystals and a black peppercorn

Salt and pepper is the common name for edible salt and black pepper, a traditionally paired set of condiments found on dining tables where European-style food is eaten. The pairing of salt and pepper as table condiments dates to seventeenth-century French cuisine, which considered pepper the only spice (as distinct from herbs such as fines herbes) which did not overpower the true taste of food.^[1] They are typically found in a set of salt and pepper shakers, often a matched set.

The term "salt and pepper" can refer to the distinctive mixture of black (or dark brown) with white, as in the hair color so called which is a roughly equal mixture of black and grey hairs.

References

1. ^ "When did salt and pepper become a pair?", Max Shrem, Slashfood.com