These are just what I wanted. The supply I got from Viva Doria are dried out well, but are not stale, and are keeping well in an air-tight container. That said, I got through quite a lot of them.Most people probably want this for doing their own peppercorn mixture (which I don't get; all you're doing is diluting the distinct flavors of the different peppercorn types into a bland mish-mash). The main thing I use this for is as an ingredient in my own home-made Cajun/Creole spices. A proper recipe for this uses a proportionally large amount of ground white pepper (or you can use this and other ingredients in unground state and put your mix in its own grinder, though that's best as a topping and would not be very convenient if trying to make gumbo or jambalaya, which will call for a lot of the spice mix up front). I like to make my own because I can control the mixture just right, add ingredients some store brands leave out, and can make it without salt. The commercial ones are all too salty, and salt is best added to-taste during preparation of a particular dish, especially if you are aiming for quite spicy but not excessively salty. I don't like getting pre-ground white pepper (like the McCormick kind that comes in a rectangular tin), because it usually seems to be kind of old and flavorless by the time I even open it, compared to grinding me own and using all of that within a month or so, then grinding some more. In whole-corn form, these from Viva Doria seem to keep well for a long time, either in the supplied resealable bag, or something more secure (I have small, flip-top, sealing jars for stuff like this).White pepper is the same species (Piper nigrum) as black and green pepper. It is ripe black pepper that is fermented, peeled of the outer black layer, then dried. So, it is spicier than unripe green pepper, but milder in flavor than the entire black pepper (much of the stronger taste of which comes from the pericarp, the outer layer). White pepper is also good as a black pepper alternative on salads, fish, chicken, pork chops, and (I learned from Martha Stewart) fruit. It's weirdly good on strawberries.Anyway, I'm happy with the Viva Doria white peppercorns. I can't think of anything at all I would complain about. It's good stuff, prepared properly, sealed well.