Sichuan pepper
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The English used in this article may not be easy for everybody to understand. (June 2012) |
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| Traditional Chinese: | 花椒 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 花椒 | ||||||
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Sichuan pepper (or Szechuan pepper) is a part of a fruit of a plant, that is used as a spice. Usually the outer pods of a number of species in the genus Zanthoxylum are used to make the spice. Most commonly these plants are Z. piperitum, Z. simulans, Z. sancho or Z. schinifolium. Many people in Asia grow them for the spice. Although the plants are called pepper, they are not related to either black pepper or Chili pepper. Sichuan pepper is widely used in the cuisine of Sichuan, China, from which it takes its name, as well as Tibetan, Bhutani, and Japanese cuisines, among others.
Sichuan pepper is known in Chinese as huājiāo (花椒; literally "flower pepper"); a lesser-used name is shānjiāo (山椒; literally "mountain pepper" (not to be confused with Tasmanian mountain pepper). In Japanese, it is 山椒,sanshō, using the same Chinese characters as shanjiao. In Tibetan, it is known as g.yer ma. In America, it is sold as fagara or flower pepper as well as Sichuan pepper.
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Culinary uses[change]
Sichuan pepper has a unique aroma and taste. This taste is compeletely different from that of black or white pepper or chile pepper. It tastes a little like lemon. It also creates a special feeling in the mouth, a kind of numbness. This is cause by a chemical called hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. Sichan pepper contains up to 3% of this substance.
Recipes often say that sichuan pepper should be slightly toasted, then crushed, before it is added to food. Only the hull (outer shells) are used in cooking; the seeds are ignored or thrown away. In general, Sichuan pepper is added at the last moment.
Star anise and ginger are often used with it and it figures prominently in spicy Sichuan cuisine. It is considered to go well with fish, duck, and chicken dishes, as well as with fried eggplant. It has an alkaline pH and a numbing effect on the lips when eaten in larger doses. Ma la (Chinese: 麻辣; Pinyin: málà; literally "numb and hot"), a flavour common in Sichuan cooking, is a combination of Sichuan pepper and chili pepper.
It is also available as an oil (marketed as either "Sichuan pepper oil" or "Hwajiaw oil"). In this form it is best used in stir fry noodle dishes without hot spices. The preferred recipe includes ginger oil and brown sugar to be cooked with a base of noodles and vegetables, with rice vinegar and Sichuan pepper oil to be added after cooking.
Hua jiao yan (Simplified Chinese: 花椒盐; Traditional Chinese: 花椒鹽; Pinyin: huājiāoyán) is a mixture of salt and Sichuan pepper, roasted and browned in a wok and served as a condiment to accompany chicken, duck and pork dishes. The peppercorns can also be lightly fried in order to make a spicy oil with various uses.
Sichuan pepper is one of the few spices which are important for Tibetan and Bhutanese cookery of the Himalayas. This is because few spices can be grown there. One Himalayan specialty is the momo, a dumpling stuffed with vegetables, cottage cheese or minced yak meat, beef or pork and flavoured with Sichuan pepper, garlic, ginger and onion. The noodles are steamed and served dry, together with a fiery sauce. Tibetans believe it can sanitize meat that may not be so fresh. In reality it may only serve to mask foul flavors. Perhaps it is because of the foul smell masking property of Sichuan pepper that made it popular in dishes made of visceral organs of slaughtered animals.
In Japan the dried and powdered leaves of Zanthoxylum sancho are used to make noodle dishes and soups mildly hot and fragrant. The whole leaves, 木の芽 kinome, are used to flavour vegetables, especially bamboo shoots, and to decorate soups. The buds, seeds, flowers, and hulls are also used.[1]
Sichuan peppercorns are one of the traditional ingredients in the Chinese spice mixture five-spice powder and also shichimi togarashi, a Japanese seven-flavour seasoning.[source?]
In Korean cuisine, two species are used: Z. piperitum and Z. schinifolium.[2]
Composition of various species[change]
- Z. fagara (Central & Southern Africa, South America) – alkaloids, coumarins (Phytochemistry, 27, 3933, 1988)
- Z. simulans (Taiwan) – Mostly beta-myrcene, limonene, 1,8-cineole, Z-beta-ocimene (J. Agri. & Food Chem., 44, 1096, 1996)
- Z. armatum (Nepal) – linalool (50%), limonene, methyl cinnamate, cineole
- Z. rhetsa – Sabinene, limonene, pinenes, para-cymene, terpinenes, 4-terpineol, alpha-terpineol. (Zeitschrift f. Lebensmitteluntersuchung und -forschung A, 206, 228, 1998)
- Z. sansho (Japan [leaves]) – citronellal, citronellol, Z-3-hexenal (Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, 61, 491, 1997)
- Z. acanthopodium (Indonesia)
The genus name Zanthoxylum or Xanthoxylum comes from the Greek xanthon xylon (ξανθὸν ξύλον), meaning "blond wood."
Miscellanea[change]
From 1968 to 2005, the United States Food and Drug Administration banned the importation of Sichuan peppercorns because they were found to be capable of carrying citrus canker (as the tree is in the same family, Rutaceae, as the genus Citrus). This bacterial disease, which is very difficult to control, could potentially harm the foliage and fruit of citrus crops in the U.S. It was never an issue of harm in human consumption. The import ban was only loosely enforced until 2002 [3]. In 2005, the USDA and FDA lifted the ban, provided the peppercorns are heated to around 70 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Fahrenheit) to kill the canker bacteria before importation.
Other names[change]
It is possible to come across names such as "Szechwan pepper," "Chinese pepper," "Japanese pepper," "Aniseed pepper," "Sprice pepper," "Chinese prickly ash," "Fagara," "Sansho," "Nepal pepper," "Indonesian lemon pepper," and others, sometimes referring to specific species within this group, since this plant is not well known enough in the West to have an established name.
Sichuan pepper is unrelated to black pepper (genus Piper) and to Chili peppers, which are also widely used in Sichuan cookery.
In Nepal, where it is extensively used, it is known as timur (Z. alatum).
A spice called teppal (Zanthoxylum rhetsa) is used in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa, by a very small community called Konkanis (they speak a language called Konkani), an official language of Goa and spoken in many parts of these three states. Teppal is a fruit which grows on trees full of thorns. It grows in bunches like grapes. Fresh fruits are parrot green in color and are used as a flavouring agent in many curries made with a paste of coconut, chilis, and other spices. The fruit is seasonal and available during the monsoon period. When dried, the flesh of the fruit hardens, turns to brownish black color and opens up to show the black seeds within. The seeds are discarded and the dried fruit is stored in containers for use around the year. This spice is mostly used in fish preparations and a few vegetarian dishes, with the coconut masala. This spice has a very strong woody aroma and is discarded at the time of eating the vegetable/fish curry. This tree is also called by the name gamathe haralu in Kannada and koili kaya in Malayalam.
Other websites[change]
- Gernot Katzer's spice pages (full of information)
- Recipes
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