Welcome to the Website of Devilberries.com

Devil Berries is a new business with which I hope to market the fruit of the native tree Tasmannia Lanceolata (“Mountain Pepper” or “Native Pepper”). I have been growing peppers since 1997 when initial interest was in their use by the essential oils industry.

My first 100 plants turned out to be 90% male because at this stage we didn’t know there were two sexes. However both sexes have deep red stems, dark green leaves and profuse white blossoms. The ladies produce small black berries that are so hot nothing much seems to bother with them.

When dried the berries resemble black pepper and serve much the same function, although they have a much more distinct aroma and flavour. My home in Crabtree is on the edge of the Mount Wellington Water Reserve and offers ideal conditions for growing peppers. For futher reading on the native pepper, checkout this link from wikipedia.

Pademelons and Marsupial Lawn

My neighbour (a librarian and keen observer of native wildlife) introduced me to this phrase, which refers to the way our indigenous marsupials, the Pademelon (a small wallaby), patrol the property every night en masse and chew off any growth in the grass since the previous night. This reduces fire risk, exposes bracken fern and exotics for easy removal and both fertilises and conditions the soil with their copious padepoo.

Farmers hate them (and shoot them) because they steal their cattle’s grass and reduce hay production. Farm paddocks and fences designed to keep cattle in would require much more expensive fencing to keep pademelon out.

I use chicken wire to fence them both in and out. With the gate open (or a hole in the fence) they eat the grass around my pepper trees down to a bowling green without touching the peppers. Then I close the gate to let the grass recover to a rich green and their excrement to break down. Then I let them return before it gets too long for them to graze. This process boosts the fertility of the patches with minimum effort on my part.

Perhaps this is a strategy for farmers?

The Uses of Pepper

Pepper berries can be dried and ground like black pepper. I can recommend it on pasta and I am told it goes well as a seasoning for native animal meat. There are businesses producing pepper-flavoured cheeses and one company produces a pepper vodka.

The web site atasteofthebush.com describes cooking with lanceolata:

"It is a good substitute for traditional pepper, however it has a fairly intense flavour and should be used with this in mind.

It has a tangy, spicy flavour with hot, strong undertones. Both the leaves and berries of this tree are used for cooking. The ground leaves are, on the whole more suitable for quiches, flans, Asian dishes or dishes that would normally require white pepper"

Links

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