NATIVE MOUNTAIN PEPPER

I have been using the Mountain Pepper (Tasmania lanceolata) leaf and dried berries in cooking for a while now and I like their peppery and spicy taste. On 30/03/08 on Landline there was an article on a plantation in Victoria which grows them, amongst other things, as a plantation small tree. Landline video

It is the first time I have actually seen what the plants look like in a mature form. Since I have one in a tub here at home and it is growing tall and thin, I was wondering if I should prune it to get it to bush out. From the video it looks to me like it will begin to bush out soon anyway. There is more information on the Outback Pride site including details of a plantation in Mount Gambier grown by the Bunderi people.

The reason I keep putting info on here about these bush foods is that we Australians have access to some wonderful flavours that the rest of the world is beating us to. Why buy peppercorns from a foreign tree grown who knows where when we have a beautiful, native version growing in South Australia and Victoria and readily available on our doorstep?? This is a pretty plant and mine is growing beautifully, under a shady tree - I would describe it as an understory shrub. I think I will get some more from the Showgrounds Farmers' Market and make a lush little hedge with them, in a shady part of the garden.