Hands up all those who thought this was going to be about Posh, Sporty, Scary, Baby and Ginger. Sorry to disappoint but this is about Sichuan / Szechuan Peppercorns, that staple of any good Chinese-style stir-fry.

About 12 years ago we planted a little sapling in the circular bed under the copper beech. Apparently these peppercorn trees are quite happy in the shade, but we were warned that they don’t fruit until they are 7 years old. For a while it grew slowly, not looking at all like it does now, then on the 7th year we had our first crop. Very limited, but at least it worked! Pruning is easy; run the hedge-trimmer around it from time to time.

Since then we’ve had a crop of some level every year, although last year was rather sparse, probably due to the weather patterns. This year is a bumper crop.

Harvesting is not a joyous task. The corns are small – usually less than 5mm across – and the tree has rose-like thorns. It takes a long time to harvest 100gms.

After getting the things off the tree they have to be dried. This is the easiest part of the process. As they dry, the husks split open and reveal a small, shiny, black seed. Here comes the trickiest bit. What you want for cooking is the red-y coloured husk, not the black seed, so there’s quite a game separating the two. It does’t matter if you don’t get them all, but the seeds are a bit gritty. The tray at the top in the picture have been drying for about 24hrs, the lower tray are freshly picked

Once they’ve all been separated it’s best to make sure the husks are really dry and also any jars you may be storing them in. If not they will easily go a bit mouldy.

If you’ve never tried them, the first impression is one of a tingling on the lips or tongue. Here Wikipedia describes it well:

Sichuan pepper is an important spice in Chinese, Nepali, Kashmiri, north east Indian, Tibetan, and Bhutanese cookery of the Himalayas. Sichuan pepper has a citrus-like flavor and induces a tingling numbness in the mouth, akin to a 50-hertz vibration, due to the presence of hydroxy-alpha sanshool. Food historian Harold McGee describes the effect of sanshools thus: 

“…they produce a strange, tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or of a mild electric current (touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery to the tongue). Sanshools appear to act on several different kinds of nerve endings at once, induce sensitivity to touch and cold in nerves that are ordinarily nonsensitive, and so perhaps cause a kind of general neurological confusion.

I once offered one to a garden visitor. A couple of minutes later a noise came from near the fruit cages something along the lines of “Ooh, ow, mmm, arrh, yes!”

There, what’s not to like about Sichuan Peppercorns?

I normally use about a teaspoonful of Sichuan to one of 5 spice powder and the same of Star Anise, ground up in the coffee mill and added to any ‘Chinese’.

Happy stir-frying!