What is Szechuan Peppercorn
What is Szechuan Peppercorn? And Why You’ll Love It!
Szechuan, Sichuan or Szechuan peppercorns are unique in the realm of spices. Picture a unique lemony and spicy taste that causes a rare sensation in your palate, which although unusual, is incredibly pleasing.
If you’re wondering what is Szechuan peppercorn, let us tell you what it’s not: The Szechuan peppercorn is not spicy like a hot pepper, and it’s not pungent like black pepper. Instead, it’s numbing, and the sensation is addictive!
Widely used in China, India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and surrounding countries, this spice is truly exciting to cook with, a fantastic spice for creative cooking, the key element in traditional Chinese food and a beneficial addition to your diet. Here’s all you need to know about the Szechuan peppercorn.
What is the Szechuan Peppercorn?
Chili peppers are fruits and are related to tomatoes. Black pepper is actually a berry. Szechuan peppercorn, which means ‘flower pepper,’ is the husk of a seed; it’s easily recognizable when whole because it looks like pebble-sized, pinkish-red hollow shells.
Several Szechuan peppercorn varieties exist, all members of the Zanthoxylum schinifolium or mastic-leaf prickly ash family, and they’re all related to citrus fruits.
The numbing spice is so famous, it’s one of the legendary Chinese 5 spices together with clove, cinnamon, star anise and fennel. The spice is available as whole seeds, in powdered form and a Szechuan oil is available too. (see how to grind it here)
It comes as no surprise that the spice is critical in Szechuan cuisine, in Southwest China, where the flavors are bold, and the food is aromatic and colorful.
Szechuan Peppercorns Health Benefits
As with most other Chinese ingredients, people use the Szechuan pepper in both the kitchen and as a remedy for several ailments. It’s part of the country’s vast repertoire of traditional medicinal compounds. Here are the spice’s most common medicinal uses.
The most apparent use of Szechuan peppers is their numbing effect. The plant is known as the “toothache tree” since it’s used to ease toothache, sore gums and throat.
Consuming Szechuan peppers is inversely related to inflammation and might have analgesic effects and could prevent hypertension and joint pain.
Szechuan peppers appear to aid digestion, too, and can treat maladies including gastritis, stomach ulcers and diarrhea.
A strong case is building to back up antimicrobial effects in bio-active molecules proper of Szechuan peppers, which could lead to treating bacterial and fungal infections. The spice could have potential uses in food preservation as well.
Szechuan Peppercorn Nutritional Value
Szechuan peppercorns are excellent sources of antioxidants in the form of alkaloids and flavonoids, but researchers have identified over 140 distinct compounds in the spice.
Szechuan peppers are an adequate source for vitamin A, that aids your vision and immune system; carotenes, that work together with vitamin A; pyridoxine (vitamin B6), which improves your mood and promotes brain health; and thiamin (vitamin B1), that keeps your kidneys and nervous system healthy.
As for the most important minerals present in the Chinese spice, manganese, phosphorous, copper, iron, potassium, zinc and selenium stand out.
Is the Szechuan Peppercorn Banned?
The US banned Szechuan peppercorns from 1968 to 2005, but not because of any health concerns for humans. The seeds, leaves, and bark were prone to carry a bacteria dangerous to citrus trees.
The numbing peppercorns have no associated health risks and can now be imported from any major country on earth. That’s splendid news because there are no substitutes for the piquant sensation Szechuan peppercorns add to food.
Cooking with Szechuan Peppercorns
Culinary uses for Szechuan peppercorns differ, but the spice is often slightly toasted before use and added at the end of the cooking process.
Perhaps the most popular dish featuring Szechuan peppers is the Chinese hotpot, but it can make its way into baking treats and sweets, too, especially in the Szechuan region.
The popular Tibetan meat and vegetable dumpling called ‘momo’ is also lifted by Szechuan peppercorns’ spiciness and citrus flavors. The Szechuan infused oil is widely used as a condiment and seasoning agent for dishes that go from duck to pork and from chicken to tofu.
Szechuan Peppercorns Are Your New Ace Up Your Sleeve
Szechuan peppercorns’ almost electric sensation is an unforgettable experience and a thrill for those unfamiliar with the Chinese spice. A little goes a long way, and there are few proper substitutes.
Experience Szechuan peppercorns, cook with them, and make them part of your meals. Your friends and family will never guess what’s that sensation, only describable as exciting.
Authetic Szechuan Peppercorn to buy with stong flavour, check this out
If you can wait patiently then take a look at the Organic option of Szechuan Pepper
Highly Rated – Social Media Chatter on Szechuan Peppercorn
Chicken of the woods coconut milk soup. A riff on Thom Ka Ghai. Similar to the curry I shared a few months ago but lighter and more herbaceous.
I season it with fish sauce, a dash of maple, galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, Thai basil, very young prickly ash leaves and an oil infused with their seeds (wild Szechuan peppercorns/Xanthoxylum).
Pick some garnishes you like and choose your own adventure. I like it with lots of herbs and floating some oil on white soups always pops.
Sometimes I add rice at the table.
Young, brightly colored yellow/sulphureus chickens can color it like weak saffron if you cook them slowly in coconut oil first. Lobster mushrooms too.
Recipe’s on my site but there’s lots of ways to make it.
#chickenofthewoods #tomkhagai #pricklyash #szechuanpepper #kinomeleaves #xanthoxylumamericanum
Making 36-hour duck leg confit with salt, garlic, Tasmanian pepperberry, Szechuan pepper and thyme, steeping sous-vide in a Manuka honey garlic run-off made from 6-month fermented garlic cloves in Manuka honey (great for colds and gut health, not the best if you don’t like perfume-flavoured garlic 🙃).
Never tried this combination of flavours with this mix of ingredients before (likely never will again), so here’s to what’s to come!
I plan to let them cool after sous-vide, then sear them in the oven when ready to eat… au revoir pour dans quelques jours, petits cuisses de canard!!
#sousvide #duckconfit #sousvideduckconfit #manukahoney #fermentedgarlic #fermentedgarlichoney #36hourcook #tasmanianpepperberry #szechuanpepper #numbingpepper #chefdelapaiz 👩🏽🍳
On Easter, you’re supposed to eat seafood for whatever reason ⛪️ 👼 ✝️ Some people have asked me recently how I cook octopus - this is one way I do it. While I get that some people don’t eat cephalopods on ethical grounds 🐙 🦑 🙏 in terms of sustainability wild-caught octopus are one of the best things you can eat. They are abundant, fast-growing and delicious! After a sleep in the freezer 🧊 🥶 ❄️ you clean them thoroughly by rubbing with coarse salt and vinegar to remove the mucus from under the skin. Cut the beaks out and remove the innards. Some people also remove the eyes and skin, but I like eating those 👀 🐙 😋 so they stay on. Bring it to the boil with aromatics of your choice and reduce to a simmer. If you left the skin on, the water will change colour. I have lots of lemongrass, bay leaves and haberneros growing at the moment 🌱🍃🌶️ so used that. For small octopus like these I simmer it for 30 minutes, bigger octopus take an hour. They should be tender enough to slice with a butter knife 🐙 🔪 Let cool before slicing and hitting it with a marinade overnight. My favourite is a mix of Szechuan pepper, black pepper, chilli, fermented soybean and honey 🍯 🌶️ 🫑 🔥 Thread onto skewers and shallow fry until blackened and crispy, finishing it off with a hit of Chinese cooking wine 🍷🧑🍳 while the pan is hot. The bag limit for Sydney Octopus (Octopus tetricus) in NSW is 10 across all species and there is no size limit. You cannot use an implement to catch them - they must be taken by hand 🤚🐙 but sometimes they are taken as bycatch on rods too 🎣 You must not take octopus from rock platforms 🪨 and in some parts of NSW like Sydney aquatic reserves or all of the Jervis Bay Marine Park you cannot take them at all. Octopus are a main lobster predator 🐙 🦞 💪😈 so around this time of year when the lobsters start returning to NSW in numbers, I usually knock off a few occies to roll the red carpet out 👑 🦞 I don’t know whether this helps the lobsters out heaps or not, but the occies are delicious 😋 🤤 🍽️ #sydneyoctopus #gloomyoctopus #octopustetricus #cephalopod #easter #catchandcook #szechuanpepper #holytrinity #sustainable #dinner #lobsterpredator
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper
- www.thespicehouse.com/products/sichuan-peppercorns
- https://www.thespruceeats.com/sichuan-peppercorn-info-694248
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/prickly-ash
- https://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/food/article/The-Szechuan-peppercorn-is-back-after-a-long-term-1265515.php
- www.healthbenefitstimes.com/health-benefits-of-szechuan-pepper/
Szechuan peppercorns are amazing. I just made a Szechuan beef dish, where I did 1 to 1 Szechuan peppercorns and a mildly bitter pepper like chinese pepper. Throw it into a spice grinder, add a little cayenne to taste, and add that to beef with a soy glaze and some beef base. Nothing else for the main dish. I added some cabbage and scallions and had it over rice.
I have often seen Szechuan Peppercorn in the supermarkets and other specialist stores and wondered about its flavour. Your post has helped me to understand it so much better. I love spicy food and I also enjoy the flavour of lemon, so the fact that it combines both flavours with a lemon and spicy taste is a real bonus. But the fact that I have to be cautious now with hot peppers, this may well be the solution, as it is not as hot as hot pepper. The fact they are fruits was interesting and they have health benefits too! Wow, I shall be adding this to the shopping list for our next visit. Do you recommend sprinkling them onto fish during baking or after when it is served?
I love Szechuan peppercorn. I have not cooked with it myself however. I knew the owner of a India restuarant in Arizona and the conversation came up one day of what the different spices were that she used. This Szechuan peppercorn was one of them. My friend explained the versatility of this spice. Did not realize it was banned at one point in the U.S though I am sure glad it was lifted. So glad to see Amazon carries this.
Thank you so so much. Let us know if there any other particular spice you would like to know more about.