Tasmanian DEVIL Mountain Pepper

Drying. Drying the pepper berries to remove most of the water content (approximately 75% of the berry is water) results in a product of high quality and a long shelf-life. We use two different drying methods to provide quite different end uses:

1. Freeze-drying provides the ultimate drying method - maintaining the full size, aroma and flavours of our Tasmanian DEVIL(R) Mountain Pepperberries. This method also maximises the retention of the berries 'red juice' (the anthocyanins) which can impart glorious colour to some of your dishes. Our Tasmanian DEVIL ® pepperberries can be easily crushed and added to your hot or cold dishes, and can 'bleed' into rice, potatoes, cream, ice-cream, etc. If you soak the DEVIL peppers in water, vinegar or olive oil, the berries will rehydrate, making a perfect garnish for your dishes. You can read more about our freeze-drying in our information note (click here).

2. Warm air drying of the fresh pepperberries at 37-40 degrees Celsius for 50-60 hours produce our dried Tasmanian DEVIL ® Mountain Peppercorns suitable for your pepper grinder. The "heat" of the pepperberry (the polygodial) is somewhat concentrated through this drying method as the berries are shrunken by the process to around 1/3rd of their original size. There is some loss of other volatiles and the red anthocyanins in Mountain Pepper dried this way.

Freeze-dried pepperberries are easily crushed and retain all the flavour

Air-dried peppercorns are well suited to a pepper grinder

Air-dried peppercorns are shrivelled and rock-hard - needing the use of a pepper grinder or mill.

Charlton Shen's Sydney University Honours project examined the effect of harvest date and drying technique on the levels of key flavour components in Tasmanian Mountain pepper. Some of his key results are outlined below.

Shen, C. 2018. Identifying the optimal harvest time of mountain pepper based on its flavour and aroma profile. Bachelor of Food and Agribusiness, Sydney University.