Pork Scratchings with Toffee & Pepperberry Salt

Crack Scratchings, is really what I should call this recipe. Though it sounds like something a withdrawing addict may be going through. So let’s settle for Pork Scratchings with Toffee and Pepperberry Salt. Slightly longer than the crack title, but you get the complete picture on this must have recipe (without the image of some scrawny person picking at their arms).

The problem is, and why the crack reference, you can’t stop eating this stuff once you have started.

There is crunchy pork crackling deliciousness, which is then married with a waved drizzle of hard toffee. This is all finished off with Australian pepperberry salt.

Pepperberry salt? Pepperberry is an Australian native ingredient, which can be found growing from Tasmania right through to the Barrington Tops in NSW. It is an Aussie pepper, with a mild fruity pepper flavour. Quite unique, and once tried, will become a staple in your pantry.

I have a dwindling supply of pepperbery salt, which came back with me from my visit to Tasman Sea Salt in Tasmania. If you can’t get your hands on pepperberry salt, or pepperberries to make your own, I would just use salt or salt and a little Sichuan or pink peppercorns. We are after the salty sweet combo for these pork scratchings.

Did you know that pepperberries have three times the antioxidants of blueberries?

Not a difficult recipe to make at all. What I love, is it is something you cannot purchase from a store. You have a unique nibble for your guests at your next soiree, or you can keep them all to yourself. No judgement here, and it won’t be hard to do.

When I originally made this recipe I harped at the boys to eat the scratchings quickly. I had a great fear the toffee would go tacky and the crackling soggy rather quickly, especially in a humid Australian summer.

I can report that all crackling had been devoured by day 4 of making. After 4 days the toffee was still hard and as brittle as the day it was made. The pork scratchings were as crunchy as day one. I was pretty impressed. What would we do without air tight containers!

Sara xxx

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