Ingredients · Spice

Pink Peppercorns

Schinus terebinthifolia · Anacardiaceae (cashew family)

Pink Peppercorns
Not pepper. Pink peppercorns are the dried drupes of a South American tree in the cashew family, and they only look the part — the flavour is fruity, resinous and faintly sweet with a mild pepper-like bite, nothing like the heat of Piper nigrum. Six products carry them, tea blends among them, which tells you they are there for colour and perfume as much as for bite.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partBerry
KindSpice
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromBrazil, Argentina, Paraguay (native range)
TasteFruity, resinous and faintly sweet, with a mild pepper-like bite and none of black pepper's heat

How to use it

Crushed rather than ground — they are soft and papery and will not go through a mill well. Over fish, chicken, soft cheese and salads, where the colour shows. In a peppercorn blend. In a tea blend they contribute a faint fruity sharpness. Add them at the end; heat kills the perfume.

With food

Fish and shellfish. Soft cheese. Strawberry and citrus. Cream sauces. Chicken. Beetroot. Chocolate.

With spices

Black, white and green peppercorns, in a blend. Lemon peel. Juniper. Coriander seed. Vanilla.

With tea

Chai and spiced black teas, where this shop uses them. Rooibos.

Its story

Where it comes from

Native to subtropical and tropical South America, particularly Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Planted widely as an ornamental elsewhere, it became invasive: in Florida the species, including the seed, is legally prohibited from sale, transport or planting, and it is classified as a Category I pest there. No lot origin is named in our notes.

What happened

Three unrelated plants get sold as peppercorns and only one of them is pepper. Black, white and green are all Piper nigrum. Szechuan peppercorns come from Zanthoxylum and produce a tingling numbness rather than heat. Pink peppercorns come from Schinus, a Brazilian tree in the same family as cashews, mangoes and poison ivy. They are in a four- and a five-peppercorn blend in this shop for the colour and the fruit note — a pepper blend with pink corns in it looks better and tastes rounder, and that is a legitimate reason to include something that is not pepper.

On the shelf with it

Sold on its own, and in these blends.

Every ingredient in the shop

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