Berry vs Leaf... Both the dried pepper berries and the dried pepper leaf are used in cooking and food and drink flavouring. So, the dried berries are used as a spice while the leaf is used as a herb; and they have quite different flavour profiles (see figures below) - however, both have the 'heat' ingredient polygodial. Pepperberries have a fruity, almost sweet fore-palate whereas the leaf is more herbal or menthol/eucalyptus tasting.

The essential oils in the Mountain Pepper leaf are extracted by some Tasmanian companies and sold as a flavouring concentrate for a diverse range of products including both gin and flavoured tonic water. Pepper Leaf from Bronzewing Farm ® is freeze- dried whole leaves rather than the more readily available ground pepper leaf. Whole leaves retain more of the aromatic compounds compared to ground leaves (see the graphs below on the aromatic compounds eugenol and eucalyptol). This is just like good coffee - ground coffee looses flavour more readily than whole coffee beans. Good cooking demands good ingredients.

Reduction in flavour components in Mountain Pepper Leaf following milling.

Our Tasmanian DEVIL ® Pepper Leaf is whole, freeze-dried leaf (not ground leaves), This is why: The data below shows the reduction in eugenol and eucalyptol following standard milling of leaves in the University of Queensland study by Sultanbawa et al., 2015