Need assistance regarding Australian product.

[andiesenji]

This vendor recently added this product to their extensive list of peppercorns available.
http://www.salttraders.com/Detail.bok?no=104

I am very partial to freshly-ground pepper and have several varieties but have not yet tried this one.  I am considering ordering it but decided to ask folks who are actually in the country if they know anything about it and if it is different enough to notice.

While this is not my usual purveyor of peppercorns, I do purchase the unusual salts they carry and have bought some peppercorns.

My usual peppercorn vendor is this one: http://www.pepper-passion.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=3&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=200024  and I became acquainted when I ordered one of his unique pepper grinders. 

[Meagan]

I have never heard of it before  I am sure someone else would have though.

[judydawn]

Never heard of it Andie but I was wondering if they would send you a sample of this product, you are afterall a customer of theirs.  Worth asking.

[gertbysea]

I have tried several Australian peppers but don't recognise this one.. You would do well to buy the Murray River Salt andiesenji. It is quite unique. Pink flakes. There are a few different Australian Peppers on the market.  Have the ever tried the black French Salt? Very wet and hard to find here but oh so "salty".

Cheers,
Gretchen

[Amanda]

I have heard of it, but haven't used it.
Maybe this will help?
http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/nativefoods/crops/pepper.htm

[Thermomixer]

I have used them - mine were called mountain pepprer berries - and they are worth trying.  It is more of  a fruity type.

Tetsuya has a new salad dressing with Tasmanian mountain peppers (they gave me a bottle to try, but now I can't find any info on the net) - they need to update their website.  So if the top chef in Australia (IMHO) uses them - you had better try them 

[andiesenji]

Thanks all, and thanks for the link, Amanda, it is very helpful.

Yes, I have the Murray river salt as well as several other salts.  I am rather a nut about salts.  I am a "supertaster" having more taste buds on my tongue than most people so I can taste even faint differences in foods.
(I took part in an interesting experiment where the taste buds on my tongue were dyed and counted - sort of weird, but interesting. - There were 15 people in the tests, so I was not the only weird person willing to do this.)

So here, in the middle of my spice cabinet, is my "salt bar"


So you can see the names, here are close-ups.  Note the Murray river salt prominently placed.




I do have black salt (which is pink), tightly sealed because the aroma tends to be invasive.
I also have three different smoked salts, which are very interesting - imparting a smoky flavor to beans and such - when I am cooking for vegans and where I would usually use a ham hock or bacon to flavor the dish. 

I put the "finishing" salts out in little salt cellars, with miniature spoons so guests can add the amount they want to certain foods. 
I do the same thing with peppers.   It's fun to experiment with them.

[Thermomixer]

Did they do the propylthiouracil tests to determine that you were, before counting the taste buds?  Don't think I could keep my mouth open long enough for someone to count the tastebuds 

[andiesenji]

Did they do the propylthiouracil tests to determine that you were, before counting the taste buds?  Don't think I could keep my mouth open long enough for someone to count the tastebuds 

They sprayed my tongue with something to "clean" it first, then painted it with one type of dye, had me rinse my mouth and then applied another type of dye and rinse. 
Then they put a flat plastic shield with holes in it on my tongue and took a photo.   They count the different types of taste buds that show up in the different holes as different parts of the tongue are sensitive to different flavors. 

The test was done at USC - a grad student was doing his doctorate on human senses.    At the time of the test (2002) I had 35 to 40 of the little papillae that sense flavors in each of the little holes.  Normal is twenty. 
He also had us tasting various things in increasing dilutions. 
Here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

[CreamPuff63]

Were you a fussy eater when you were a baby/child?

[andiesenji]

No, not at all.  When I was a child, it was not allowed.    I was the only girl born into the family for a generation (my mother being the last) and I was indulged to a degree but not when it came to food.  I was born shortly before WWII (in 1939) and I ate what was put before me and while our diet was not as varied or as interesting as today's world-wide suppliers allow us, we had plenty of food.  I grew up on a farm in western Kentucky (not the "bluegrass" area) that was essentially self-sufficient. 

[ThermomixBlogger]

This is so fascinating! Never heard of this taste-bud testing before! Makes me wonder if maybe some of us who love the nuances of food 'too much' need to get some of our taste-buds zapped.    Perhaps the "numbing" of extra taste-buds could be a new way to reduce food desire/intake and lose weight ?     (Not sure I'd be willing to serve as guinea pig for those scientific trials though...)

[judydawn]

Don't think you would get too many volunteers at all Helene. By the way, just had a look at your website and would like to thank you for all the lovely thinks you wrote about us Aussies.
Andie - what in life have you not experienced   What a journey you have been on and an autobiography would make for very interesting reading indeed.

[andiesenji]

Don't think you would get too many volunteers at all Helene. By the way, just had a look at your website and would like to thank you for all the lovely thinks you wrote about us Aussies.
Andie - what in life have you not experienced   What a journey you have been on and an autobiography would make for very interesting reading indeed.

Several people have said the same.  My daughter and grandkids keep asking me to write about some of my experiences.  While I had a "regular" job as an x-ray tech, I also did some work as a personal chef - mostly to patients of the doctor for whom I worked at that time.  He was the medical director for the Motion Picture Country Hospital so most of his patients were in the entertainment business and I worked for several from time to time, when they needed something special.   I've never disclosed any names, even to my family, because I was trusted to be discrete.   There were some really hilarious incidents.  I worked on a fairly regular basis - two or three times a month - for a British rock star during the two years he lived in Bel Air in the early-to-mid '70s.  He liked to walk around the house nude, (except he always wore one of the Irish flat tweed caps) it didn't bother me, except when he came into the kitchen while I was cooking.  I warned him he should at least wear an apron when I was frying stuff.    He had a constant parade of girlfriends, some were some of the dumbest people I have ever known.  At least he wasn't into drugs - but did have a taste for single-malt scotch.  It was the first time I had ever heard of some of the more "exotic" scotch brands, apparently only produced in very small batches and for the price, may have contained gold.  He had them flown in and some were delivered in wooden cases.

[gertbysea]

andiesenji you are a hoot.  Stop cooking and start writing. Or you could use a ghost writer. Helene might volunteer. Another fascinating person on this forum. What a wonderful world.

Gretchen