Tasmania's Native Pepper - Tasmannia Lanceolata

The leaves and fruit of Tasmannia lanceolata contain a hot tasting compound (polygodial) which, together with many of the aromatic compounds in other native Australian plants, gives an unusual fragrant, spicy taste. The Diemen pepper berries show sweet fruit flavours and pungency before the full effects of heat are experienced.

The leaves and berries of the plant are now used to give a 'wild, natural and spicy' taste to foods of the Australian native cuisine, and are finding their way onto menus and into pantries all around the world.

Tasmania's native pepper is a rainforest shrub growing to 5 meters high with dark green leaves, black berries and distinctive crimson stems. Found from sea level to mountain tops in Tasmania, and the south eastern Australian mainland, it belongs to a family of plants from the ancient Gondwanan supercontinent.

Tasmannia pepper leaf and berries demonstrate very strong antimicrobial activity against common food-born human pathogens, common food spoilage bacteria, yeasts and moulds. It has also been shown to have significant antioxidant activity.

Many members of the family have been used in traditional medicine, and during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Tasmannia species were used as a pepper or allspice substitute. Other members of this family have been used as ‘natural medicines’ by indigenous peoples where they occur, and European use began in 1597 to relieve scurvy. Polygodial, a primary ingredient of this plant has shown to have potential in medicinal applications.

Tasmanian Native Pepper is an important ‘native food’ flavour – both the berries and the leaf, but is also used commercially as an ingredient in some health supplements and to prepare flavour extracts.

For more information...

http://www.diemenpepper.com/index.html
http://www.anfil.org.au/key-native-species/flavour-of-the-month-october/