Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Mountain Pepperleaf along with all the Mountain Pepperleaf containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 recipes in total.

e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Mountain Pepperleaf as a major herb flavouring.

Mountain Pepperleaf, Tasmannia lanceolata (also known as Tasmanian Pepperleaf, Cornish Pepperleaf) are the dried (and sometimes fresh) leaves of the shrub, Tasmannia lanceolata which is part of the Winteraceae, a small family of shrubs from South East Asia and the Pacific Rim. The plant itself is mainly found on the Tasmanian Island, Australia; though it on the mainland in Victoria and New South Wales. Mountain pepper shrubs are distinguished by the attractive deep red of their young stems and branches. In ideal conditions, mountain pepper will grow to 5m tall. The broad-based, tapering leaves on mountain pepper are longer on plants growing in lowland areas, (up to 13cm), and much shorter on alpine dwelling ones that may have leaves only 1.5cm in length.



The flowers are small, yellow to cream coloured and when fertilized (typically in March and May) these develop into berries that are dark blue to black in colour. These are hand-picked and dried to produce pepperberries, which are black in colour and are a succulent hot berry with a crunchy seed cluster at their heart. When eaten alone, the berries have a sweet taste at the beginning, followed by short-lasting intense heat. The berries then deliver a strange sensation of numbness, similar to Szechwan peppercorns. The leaves, fruit and even the fresh flower buds all have a distinct mountain pepper aroma and taste, albeit at varying intensities.



Mountain pepperleaf has a pleasing woody fragrance with vague pepper and dry, cinnamon-like notes. These flavours become more intense when the leaf is dried. Like the berries, the heat of the leaves develops slowly then becomes much more intense. Even the leaves are hotter than black pepper. Mountain pepperleaf is predominantly sold in its powdered form, which will look somewhat granular, and have a khaki colour. This can be substituted for black pepper in any recipe, but use half the quantity that you would for black pepper.



During the late 19th century Tasmannia lanceolata were introduced to Cornwall, UK and escaped cultivation. They became so common that the plant leaf was incorporated into local cooking (see the recipe list, below for a pasty recipe from the 1920s incorporating it) and became known as 'Cornish pepperleaf'.



Though largely known only in Australia Mountain Pepperleaf is becoming available through a small number of on-line spice suppliers. Please note that if you are interested in using this spice for your own cooking, then employ a light hand as dried leaves are about twice as hot as ordinary black pepper!