There are three native pepper berries –
Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata)
Tasmannia lanceolata (syn. Drimys lanceolata), commonly known as the Mountain Pepper (Aus), or Cornish Pepper Leaf (U.K.), is a shrub native to woodlands and cool temperate rainforest of south-eastern Australia
Dorrigo Pepper (Tasmannia stipitata)
Tasmannia stipitata, Dorrigo Pepper or Northern Pepperbush is a rainforest shrub of temperate forests of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia.
Alpine Pepper (Tasmannia xerophila) native to the mountains of Tasmania. The fiery leaves get draped in snow in the winter and blasted by Antarctic winds which sweep the icy valleys where this tough plant grows. Alpine pepper can also be used in far more ways than just as a seasoning over cooked dishes.
The plant produces leaf and berry.
Pepperberries are more versatile than conventional peppercorn, able to be used in sweet and savoury dishes. The leaves, stems and berries have an aromatic peppery taste producing approx. 3 times the anti-oxidants of blueberries. Native birds, such as the Black Currawong, eat the berries.
Flowering occurs in mid-Spring October-November. The ripened fruit (March-June) is a pea-sized 2-lobed lustrous deep-purple, almost black, berry with many small angular seeds.
Pepper plants feature heavily in indigenous traditional uses, both in cooking and medicinally.
Although Native Pepperberry can be used in the same way as conventional pepper, it has an added herbal dimension, particularly towards the end of the palate. The dark Pepperberries also infuse a rich plum color to sauces. The
Mountain Pepperleaf has a more subtle, organic herbal flavour than the berry and is ideal where the intensity of the pepperberry is too dominant.
Pepperberries will bleed a soft pink colour into marinades or pickle solutions, pale sauces and yoghurt.
Use it for preparing savouries and soups, vinaigrettes, ice cream jellies, candy, pasta, and game, etc.>>RECIPES>>
Available in our Bush Food Shop in
10gm, 25gm, 50gm, 100gm, 250gm, 500gm , or by the kilo