The Australian town of Dorrigo has a lot to answer for.

As well as being a centre of natural beauty, the area is known for its locally grown and indigenous spice Dorrigo Pepper (Tasmannia stipitata).

After my friend brought me back some of the pepper berries from a trip to Australia we experimented with different food and drink ideas using these intriguing and complex botanicals.

A Dorrigo Infusion

After many hours of (ahem) hard work we came up with the Dorrigo Pepper Martini which was, quite frankly, delicious, but also really easy to prepare (with a few days’ infusion time).

However, we also realised that this vodka infused with the beautiful spice would be ideal for a Bloody Mary. It’s light, complex and peppery, making it ideal to pair with tomato juice for a savoury livener.

So, here you go: a quick and easy recipe for a Dorrigo Mary.

How to make a Dorrigo Mary

You will need vodka, tomato juice, salt and Dorrigo pepper berries. Celery can serve as an optional garnish.

Infuse the vodka using the guidelines here.

When you’re ready, add one part of the vodka to three parts tomato juice. Alternatively you can or adjust to taste – half and half is potent but more delightfully peppery for instance.

I used Cawston Press Terrific Tomato for the juice. They promise no “jiggery pokery” and their range of juices are never made from concentrate. I didn’t want to use something sub-par on the precious Dorrigo vodka! Use a good quality tomato juice wherever you may be.

The only other ingredient I would add is a small pinch of salt to taste. Cawston Press already has a little salt and lemon added but I felt that a touch more would help tie it all up with the spicy Dorrigo flavour.

You can garnish it with a small sprig of celery but this is more of an aesthetic addition. It goes nicely with the flavour but is very much superfluous if you don’t have any to hand.

There are numerous other things you could add to a typical Bloody Mary. I’ve seen everything from salt rims to entire roast chickens which is obscene.

I normally like mine to be minimal but very spicy with lashings of Tabasco and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce, but honestly leave this Bloody Mary as naked as civility allows because you want to taste that fascinating Dorrigo spice.

The only other suggestions I would offer are to keep the vodka in the freezer for a few hours before pouring and the tomato juice in the fridge for the same. It tastes much better chilled but you don’t want to water down the complex, satisfying flavour or luscious texture with ice cubes.

Note that the versatility of this beautiful and unusual spice means that it can go with all sorts of things from sweets to meats. I look forward to seeing more of it on the culinary scene.

If you’d like to buy Dorrigo pepper online use the Dorrigo Pepper company, who harvest the berries organically and sustainably from the wild trees in the area. Otherwise you’ll need to pay the town a visit.

Thank you Dorrigo!