Native Pepper and Wild Peach

Daughter gave me a packet of Native Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) leaves and berries to try. Haven’t tried the berries yet but the leaves give a tasty lift to savoury custard type dishes. I tried some in a tuna dish made with eggs and evaporated milk. I added a good pinch of the dried leaves which I crumbled over the top of the mixture and stirred lightly in, to moisten them. I could smell the scent of them and the flavour was good. There is a slight taste of ‘heat’ as you would expect with pepper but there is definitely another flavour there which I found very nice. Scrambled eggs could do with some of this.

Included in the package was also a jar of Santalum accuminatum Quandong (Wild Peach) jam. This had a slightly tangy taste and I think is like marmalade in that it is better on toast rather than bread. I noticed that the ingredients included orange concentrate. There would be a number of recipes around for jam. However I do prefer the fruit in a pie. I remember one Australian Plant Society Christmas ‘Do’ very well!. One of the members brought along a large Quandong Pie to share, complete wth a container of cream. Pure decadence and absolutely delightful.