Pink peppercorn

Pink Peppercorns

A pink peppercorn (French: baie rose, "pink berry") is a dried berry of the shrub Schinus molle, commonly known as the Peruvian peppertree.

Although a peppercorn is the dried fruit of a plant from the genus Piper, pink peppercorns came to be called such because they resemble peppercorns, and because they, too, have a peppery flavour. As they are members of the cashew family, they may cause allergic reactions including anaphylaxis for persons with a tree nut allergy.

Dried berries from the related species Schinus terebinthifolius (the Brazilian pepper), are sometimes also called pink peppercorns (baies roses de Bourbon). The dried berries of that shrub are employed as culinary spice.

In 1982, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States banned the import of Brazilian peppercorns from France into the US, asserting that people who eat the berries risk an array of acute symptoms, such as swollen eyelids and indigestion. In response, the Government of France maintained that the berries are safe to eat if grown in prescribed conditions.^[1] The United States later lifted the ban.

See also

• List of dried foods

References