Mountain pepperberry is the dried berries of Mountain Pepper – Tasmannia lanceolata. It has a rich, round peppery flavour, hotter than black pepper, with a very slow burn. After a minute, when the heat dies away, it leaves a lovely berry aftertaste. The ground berries are soluble in water, turning liquids a rich pink/purple colour.
Use mountain pepperberry:
Where you might use black pepper. Use less until you’re used to the heat.
Sprinkled over vegetables or meat, used as the base for rubs, marinades and salad dressings, or added as a condiment.
The berry-like flavours of both the dried and fresh pepperberry makes it surprisingly good in sweet dishes, complementing berries, chocolate, and other rich, “dark” flavours.
In peppergrinders, as a pepper on its own, or with whole peppercorn mixes. It fits most manual grinders.
Dried berries are hotter than the more common peppers – use sparingly. For example, if a recipe calls for 12 peppercorns, try 8 or 9 pepperberries initially.
