Welcome to Battle Pink Peppercorn. Our August challenge uses this spicy, yet sweet dried berry, mistakenly named a peppercorn. It is not pepper at all, but somehow houses the spiciness of black pepper with a fruity, but not too sweet, element. Sounds complex? Yes. But even more confusing than its taste…. THIS STUFF IS POISON!
Seriously. Ends up this “berry” (schinus terebenthifolius), is part of the poison ivy family. And some believe (not the French by the way), that eating too many of these babies will kill you.
But what the hell…I started by just popping a few of these ‘corns back, to see what they tasted like. They are softer than black peppercorns, less spicy and, as advertised, a little bit fruity. So I threw them into two recipes that night for dinner.
The first is a mango, mozzarella, red onion salad with basil, salt and pink peppercorns. The other was part of dessert, fresh figs, with blueberries, drizzled with honey and dusted with pink peppercorns. The pink peppercorn worked great in both these dishes. And FYI, no one got sick.
But the dinner guest of my choosing must be brave -- the most common side effects include those similar to exposure to poison ivy, as well as violent headaches, swollen eyelids, shortness of breath, chest pains, sore throat, hoarseness, upset stomach, diarrhea and hemorrhoids.
Sounds like a good time, right?
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