We sometimes get asked "what is the difference between a 'mill' and a 'grinder'?" When it comes to preparing pepper corns, salt crystals, herbs and spices we don't think there are any real differences. People use the terms interchangeably.

For example, the on-line dictionary The Free Dictionary defines both mill and grinder as

grinder - machine that processes materials by grinding or crushing... pepper grinder, pepper mill - a mill for grinding pepper... spicemill - a mill for grinding spices

As you can see from the above, there is also some confusion when it comes to writing the terms:

Spice mill, spicemill, spice-mill, spice grinder, spicegrinder and spice-grinder can all be used interchangeably.

Other families of interchangeable terms include :

pepper mill, peppermill, pepper-mill, pepper grinder, peppergrinder and pepper-grinder;

and

salt mill, saltmill, salt-mill, salt grinder, saltgrinder and salt-grinder.