Pink Pepper: The Cashew-Family Berry That Isn’t Pepper

Pink pepper, sold as pink peppercorns, is the dried berry of a South American tree in the cashew family. It is not related to black pepper and shares only its shape: the berries are sweet, resinous and only mildly peppery. Most cooks use them for color and a juniper-like perfume rather than for heat. This page covers the two trees behind the name, what the berries taste like and why, how they are used, and the safety questions that led the United States to ban their import in 1982.

At a glance

Two trees, one name

Two species of Schinus supply the spice. Katzer names Schinus terebinthifolius (now spelled terebinthifolia by Kew) as the Brazilian species and Schinus molle as the Peruvian one; the epithet molle comes from molli, the plant’s Quechua name.³ Kew places both in the Anacardiaceae, the family of cashew, sumac and poison ivy, while black pepper belongs to an unrelated family, the Piperaceae.¹⁴⁵

Kew gives the native range of S. terebinthifolia as Brazil to northeastern Argentina, including Paraguay, and that of S. molle as Peru to northern Chile and southern Brazil to northeastern Argentina.¹² Both have spread far beyond South America. Kew lists S. terebinthifolia as introduced in Florida, Texas, California, Hawaii and other US states, across the Caribbean, in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya), Spain, Portugal, Australia and Réunion.¹ S. molle is introduced in Greece, Italy, Spain, North Africa, the Middle East and Mexico, among other places,² and Katzer notes it is commonly planted as an ornamental around the Mediterranean.³

An invasive tree in Florida

The University of Florida’s invasive-plant center dates the Brazilian peppertree’s introduction to Florida to the 1840s, as an ornamental.⁵ It now infests more than 700,000 acres there, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection lists it as a Class I invasive under section 62C-52.011, which prohibits its sale and movement.⁵ Katzer also notes that it has proved quite invasive in Florida.³ When the US was importing the berries from France in the early 1980s, University of Miami botanist Julia Morton told the Wall Street Journal that Floridians would pay people to take them out of the state.⁶

Flavor and aroma

Katzer describes the berries as sweet and aromatic, similar to juniper, with a weak flavor overall.³ Atlas Obscura calls the flavor only slightly peppery.⁶ The name comes from the berries’ shape, not their taste.³ To us they read as resinous and faintly fruity, with a brittle shell that crushes easily; that description is ours.

The compounds

According to Katzer, the essential oil is mostly monoterpene hydrocarbons, with about 21% Δ3-carene, 20% α-pinene and 13% α-phellandrene in the analysis he cites.³ He attributes the sweetness of the dried berries to their considerable sugar content.³ For what gives true pepper its bite, see black pepper.

Pink pepper is not red pepper

The fully ripe fruit of the true pepper vine, Piper nigrum, is reddish to brown and pungent, and Katzer warns that pink peppercorns must not be confused with it.³ Read the label for the botanical name: Schinus is pink pepper, Piper nigrum is true pepper. Our Kampot pepper page covers one red Piper nigrum product.

How it is used

Katzer says pink pepper serves a mainly ornamental purpose and appears in European nouvelle cuisine, mostly in decorative mixtures, with some books suggesting it for fish and certain vegetables.³ In practice the berries go into multicolored peppercorn blends, onto pale dishes where their color shows, and into cream sauces, vinaigrettes and desserts; those uses are common practice. Crush them with the flat of a knife or in a mortar, since their flaky texture suits crushing better than a grinder.⁶

For a blend of pink and black pepper, see peppercorn medley vs. black pepper. For the juniper comparison, see juniper berries.

Buying and quality

Katzer names Réunion as the main producer for the European market, followed by Turkey and other Mediterranean countries that harvest S. molle trees.³ No international grade standard for pink pepper was found during this review. Whole berries should be intact and evenly colored. Because the aroma is carried by volatile terpenes, smell is the practical test of freshness.

Safety

The 1982 import ban

Pink pepper had a brief scare in the United States. Atlas Obscura reports that the FDA banned pink peppercorns from importation in 1982, at a time when many came from the French island of Réunion, and that the agency eventually dropped the ban.⁶ The concern centered on the plant’s relationship to poison ivy.⁶

What the sources say about irritation and allergy

• Irritation. Katzer says the berries are sometimes blamed for respiratory ailments or irritation of mucous membranes, and that in the 1970s there was some concern about a potential health hazard; for the dried berries, only very weak irritating action, if any, was confirmed.³ He suggests any effect may come from urushiol-type allergens, the kind found in poison ivy and some sumacs, and says the Réunion-grown spice appears to be free of them.³
• The tree itself. The University of Florida says contact with Brazilian peppertree can cause dermatitis in people with sensitive skin, and that some people report respiratory problems during its bloom.⁵ That concerns the living plant, not the dried spice.
• Tree-nut allergy. Atlas Obscura found recent reports of allergic reactions limited to one patient with a tree-nut allergy.⁶ Because pink pepper is in the cashew family, people with a cashew allergy may want to ask an allergist before eating it; that advice is ours, not a regulator’s.

Health claims

Pink pepper is often credited with anthocyanins, gallic acid, very high fiber, and protective effects against cancer, diabetes and respiratory illness. No regulator summary, systematic review or nutrient database entry supporting those claims was found for this review. Kew records that S. terebinthifolia has been used as a medicine, a poison and a food, which documents use, not effectiveness.¹

Substitutes and comparisons

Nothing else has pink pepper’s combination of color and sweet, piney perfume. For aroma, a crushed juniper berry is the nearest flavor match; for color on a plate, there is no spice equivalent. Neither swap has a tested ratio, so start with less and taste. For true peppers, see black pepper, green peppercorns and white peppercorns; for other “peppers” that are separate plants, see Szechuan pepper, cubeb pepper and long pepper.