If you’ve ever walked down a Palma avenue or through the gardens of an old Tramuntana estate, you’ve probably noticed them — graceful trees with drooping, feathery leaves and clusters of coral-pink berries that gleam in the sun. They look like they belong here, swaying among olives and bougainvillea. But these trees have travelled far to get to Mallorca.
They’re Schinus molle and Schinus terebinthifolia, cousins from South America that the Spanish call falso pimiento, or “false pepper.” The name fits, because these berries have nothing at all to do with real pepper. True pepper comes from the tropical vine Piper nigrum, while this graceful impostor belongs to the cashew family — the same clan as mangoes, pistachios and, less comfortingly, poison ivy.
The pink berries do indeed look like tiny peppercorns, and they’re often sold as such — pink pepper or pink peppercorns — but the resemblance stops there. Their flavour is sweet, fragrant and faintly resinous, more like a hint of citrus or pine than a fiery spice. They’re used sparingly in marinades, sauces and even cocktails, though it’s best not to overdo it: because Schinus is in the cashew family, its berries can cause mild allergic reactions in sensitive people.
The trees were likely brought to Mallorca in the 19th century as drought-tolerant ornamentals, admired for their elegant form and rosy fruit. They adapted effortlessly to the island’s climate and quickly became part of the scenery — lining roadsides, shading courtyards and thriving wherever the soil was poor and the sun abundant. Today, they’re as much a part of the Mallorcan landscape as cypresses or palm trees.
They can survive months without rain, tolerate salt air and neglect, and still throw out graceful cascades of pink berries every autumn. And yet there’s something quietly poetic about them. These South American immigrants have settled so successfully that few people stop to wonder where they came from. Like so many Mallorcans-by-adoption, they arrived from distant shores, took root and found their place.
The pink pepper tree may be exotic by origin, but it has long since gone native — a small, fragrant symbol of how Mallorca welcomes what the world sends its way.
Photo: Angel Mendez, Estudio de Paisajismo
