Interestingly, there are actually three species of zanthoxylum native to the US(one in the midwest and two in the gulf/south florida). They're all referred to as "toothache trees" and were used by indigenous people for their numbing properties.
Mixing sansho in tartar sauce is really great for fried foods. Also there was an old grandmother in shikoku that made shaved ice with sansho and lemon and condensed milk many years ago.
If you purchased your Szechuan Pepper from a grocery store, it's actually likely a blend of different species. Zanthoxylum simulans is the predominant ingredient, but Z. armatum, Z. bungeanum, and Z. acanthopodium are often included simply due to regional sourcing.
I haven't had sansho recently but way more of a tingle situation than with szechuan. with the latter I get numbing/tingly, with the timur I got electricity. I'm going to try my Timur again today, but at last taste I got grapefruit, lime rind, a relatively "dank" weed, and pineapple. So so fruity while szechuan for me has always only been good for its slight heat and tingles
One other thing I could think of to improve your jam recipe there is to make a spice extract with the timur/sichuan/sansho peppercorn with something neutral like vodka or everclear, then add that to the cooking fruit and sugar so that the alcohol cooks off. You should still get the spicy notes that are nice, but you won't have to deal with the grit of the spices which I think most people don't want in a jam. Thanks for another fun episode!
@@WeirdExplorer It might work to steep the crushed peppercorns in alcohol -- as little as possible -- for a day or so so that you don't affect the numbing effect by heating them. Strain out the pieces and add the tincture to the jam mixture late in the cooking process. Also, use less water in the jam mixture so you don't have to cook it for so long or at such high heat. You'll get a fresher flavour from the fruit. Lemon or other acid isn't added to jam just for taste -- some low-acid fruits need it in order for the gel to form properly.
@@WeirdExplorer if you toast the peppercorns in a pan on medium heat for about 30 seconds until the peppercorns are warm to the touch and then immediately grind them in a spice grinder, the pericarp with the oils separates from the gritty interior as a fine powder that clings to the inside of the lid of the grinder. This powder is very fine and seems to dissolve when used in foods. I haven’t successfully made an alcohol extract of sichuan peppercorns that was faithful to the flavor.
My husband and I started making momo when the pandemic took hold. The sauce is my favorite part! Now you’ve got me dreaming of a plum and Szechuan peppercorn tart…🤔🤤
I had the same thought about sweet vs. savory, and put szechuan peppercorns in an apricot/kumquat cobbler once. It didn't taste bad, but it really didn't go with the fruit the way I'd hoped. Tasted like it would go much better in some kind of gingerbread.
In Nepal, Lapsi(Choerospondias axillaris/Nepalese hog plum) jams/ sweets are made with asafetida and pepper. Maybe these peppers can be incorporated the same way.
Have you ever tried Indian prickly ash (zanthoxylum rhetsa)? In Vietnam it's called mắc khén, and it's used in the Thái and H'mong peoples in the northwestern mountainous region, along with the much harder-to-come-by hạt dổi (Michelia tonkinensis A.Chev. / no common English name), to form the basis of a delicious dipping condiment called chẳm chéo. Highly recommended.
@@Erewhon2024 in this case the dried berry is used as a spice, then prior to use, briefly toasted over an open flame, then ground. It's supposedly foraged, and therefore quite expensive by Vietnamese standards. The smell is earthy, musky, and licorice-like.
Lol came here to mention makhwaen (I learned about it in northern Thailand). Then I saw your username. Should mention that mắc khén is great in beer ;) Dunno if Gray mentioned it but Sơn Sette is one of my all time fave brews!
We are loving these spice videos Jared, as spice aficionados its always exciting to be introduced to a new one. Timur pepper is new to me! I grew Zanthoxylum simulans in my garden for years which was fun.
One of the rarest dish I know uses this or perhaps a related spice "er ma". I have never seen it served in any restaurant ever. Basically you have a polenta of barley flour, served in a nettle soup garnished with chilli, tomato and this spice. The dish was called 'zen kong'
Crazy. I remember subscribing to you when you had like 12k followers and now you have 300k. I knew this niche genre on TH-cam would blow up for you. Only thing else I feel would put your channel over the top is a travel companion to converse with.
Great video. I’ve got an Asian multi mart two blocks from my house and headed there right after I watched this. Found some joyluck brand Sichuan . Wild stuff. Got close to ten minutes of tingle and now I’m a bit numb. Didn’t get any scoville experience in-spite of claims that it should be between 50’000 and 70’000. Can’t wait to try that sauce Thanks for exposing me to new things.
Made a Szechuan mousse today. Straight evil. Too beautiful for this world . I’ve been making things with this spice all day. That is my favorite aspect of this channel, this fine fellow marks the x on the map! I find the ingredients and then it is all rubix cubes from there. How do I work this in? So far this is my favorite,maybe because it is challenging, possibly because of the novel tingle
I worked at an ice cream store in San Francisco called Humphry Slocombe, and we made a Strawberry Szechuan Sorbet with szechuan peppercorns. It was AMAZING!
I love the cooking segment! I imagine you can't do that every episode, but it's really cool to see what you can do with things. I love seeing how people put different spices together when they cook
I always felt that Timut peppercorns have a distinctly grapefruit note. And I think you must have some really old Szechuan peppercorns, because I find they’re usually SUPER lemony…
Never had timur, though I use red and green sichuan pepper all the time. Only ever had sansho in a pre made shichimi togarashi mix. I really want to try a combination of raspberry and timur, since I know that raspberry and grapefruit is a phenomenal flavour combo. It would have to be something that actually benefits from the numbing flavour, though, which is hard to think of in a sweet recipe. In mapo tofu the tofu is used as a contrast to the spicy and numbing sauce, so maybe the best translation of tofu would be panna cotta? I'd make a vodka tincture of the timur pepper and mix it into some basic raspberry sauce. Then serve that on top of a fior di latte panna cotta, with some sliced fresh figs and crushed hazelnut praline on the side.
Cool. I've posted this before but there is a native shrub in TX that is in the same genus as Sichuan Peppers called Texas Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum hirsutum). When I was a kid we would chew the leaves to make our mouths numb. Both the leaves and fruit are edible. I found one near my house during a recent park litter clean up and yep, it still numbs your mouth!
You have a bread machine! I recognize that square bread shape anywhere xD The timur pepper sounds like it might do well with some fruit icecream or sorbet too and maybe use a little of the sansho for lemon curd.
Another type, from Sumatra, is Batak pepper (aka Andaliman pepper) - Zanthoxylum acanthopodium. We use it as an almost immediate *headache* cure; when you pop a few in your mouth it is an extremely saline sensation, then your headache disappears.
I thought Sansho and Szechuan Pepper was the same. Good to know it's a different variety! We have a great Momo place in Columbus, OH if you are ever in the area!
I purchased this (Timur pepper) thinking that it was black pepper. I realized my mistake when I put them on my eggs in the morning and contemplated returning it as I was really turned off by the flavor. I tried adding a small amount to my eggs for a few days and developed a taste for it, now I really love it.
With Szechuan peppercorns you have to buy from very specific suppliers because most importers pasteurize them before they get to the west therefore booking off allot of the aromatic oils I got some from this one website and the difference was immaculate
Ah, so you are finally giving these attention. I have all three in my spice bin. I have 1.5 kg red sichuan peppercorns, 0.5 kg green sichuan peppercorns, and 200g timur. I’m obsessed! The numbing is perfect to balance out the heat of very spicy food like Chongqing hot pot
I was watching randomly japanese cooking (tofu curry),at the end he put sansho pepper powder. so i got to know what is that and I found this video. not only informative i think it's the only video in TH-cam about the topic 🤷. thanks
In Indonesia, the most common species found are Z. acanthopodium or Andaliman and this plant is very difficult to cultivate outside the island of Sumatra.
I have an unknown Zanthoxylum species that I found at a small market in Luang Prabang in Laos, It has a very herbal, almost evergreen-like flavour. it was labled as Makkhan.
You should try spice blends from around the world too. Especially ones locals would recommend. Try brands people suggest in particular recipes. Optional a diy. Got some suggestions if you want.
After having viewed your various Citrus hybrid shows I could not help but wonder if there are any mad botanists out there trying to hybridize one of these peppers with lemon to grow lemon Peppers :-)
Same family, but not the same subfamily (let alone genus--Citrus is crossed with kumquats but those are also in Citrus today, so the only thing outside the genus is Poncirus [which differs only in having deciduous, trifoliate leaves rather than evergreen simple ones; it is unpleasant but so are some wild Citrus]) I believe. Anyway, mixing products isn't difficult, and lemon pepper uses zest + black pepper. Black pepper and Sichuan pepper are rather different in flavor.
If you liked sansho and haven't had sansho leaves (a springtime seasonal spice), I highly recommend them! I've never seen them sold in the US and they're eaten fresh, not dried. They have a similar flavor to sansho 'peppercorns' but less intense and more herbal. With my family, we mix white miso paste, a little soy sauce and plenty of katsuobushi flakes, then top it with a few sprigs of the sansho leaves to eat over hot rice.
Very citrusy with a slight bitter caraway seed flavour. I only realised that majenga leaves used to flavour meat stews in north east India are from tve Sichuan / Timur pepper plant
Where I live, I can mail order from a Dutch online spice store, and that’s how I was introduced to timur/timut pepper (lovely aroma!), and lots of other things which are considered peppers; as a suggestion, I’d say you could try out “malam pepper”, an african wild berry from near Cameroon. I use them to add as a spice when pickling my home grown peppers, and boy do they make a hell of a unique pickle. I’d describe them as smokey, yet berry-like. Very unique. Also, that store I mentioned sells “andaliman pepper”, which is also a (rare) sichuan pepper relative from Sumatra. It’s scientific name is zhantoxylum acanthopodium. Flavor-wise it’s more savory and bizarre tasting than the ones in this video, but still good to use as a spice. Thanks for another great video Jared. I absolutely love your channel, as it triggered me to grow exotic solanums which has become a major hobby of mine, my jaltomata are ripening on my plant as I type this. :)
Hey Victor. Thats great! I'll try and track down some Malam pepper. any idea what the species is on that one? analiman is already on my list.. maybe for a new szechuan relative video :) Glad to hear you're growing some solanum rarities! Jaltomata is a really fun one!
@@WeirdExplorerHi Jared. I tried really hard to find the scientific name for it, but to no avail... It seems to be known solely as malam, I'm sorry to disappoint you with that.
They have a nice specimen of Zanthoxylum simulans at the New York Botanical Garden. One of the few species that is self-fertile. Grows well in the northeast.
Being Cantonese, we rarely have szechuan pepper in our cuisine and honestly, I don’t like it very much! But I looove sansho pepper because it’s not completely numbing and has more of the citrus flavour compared to szechuan. It’s gentle and mild which I like!
Awesome video thank you 😊. I think the pepper would also work really well to make apricot chutney SA style. Added apricots, sugar, vinegar, the pepper, onions, bit of salt and a few raisins. Cook like a jam. Could add other spices to go with the pepper as well. Much love and be blessed! Have you ever tried using dried papaya seeds as a pepper substitute? Very peppery and so healthy. I dry and grind them with salt to add to food instead of regular pepper a d also grind them as is to add to fruit salads .
I could never use them as peppercorn *substitutes* but I quite enjoyed the flavor last time I dried and ground some. Reminded me if the peppery flavor of the Nasturtium flowers and leaves. The two just taste far too different to me because I kind of wound up being picky about peppercorns I guess. I used it too much in very specific ways as a kid so I know its basic flavourful profiles too well. ...I just realized I have never roasted any of the dried seeds, so I don't know how that changes the flavor profile. (disclaimer: I am absolutely no super taster I have just been fond of some types of bitter flavors since childhood and am sensitive/attentive to sensory input from my nose and tongue)
I have always read that these peppers are used as a way to numb your mouth from the heat of chilis so you can appreciate more of their flavors without the heat taking over. Probably why most recipes are savory.
The northernmost U.S. native Zanthoxylum (Z. americanum) is known as "toothache ash" (ash, or sometimes "prickly ash," b/c it does indeed have thorns, for the foliage which resembles Fraxinus; toothache b/c of the Novocaine-like effect of the spice)
OMG, it’s always you. I foraged prickly ash yesterday and wanted to learn about it. Any time I forage something you have a video about it. BUT… I have nannyberries and you don’t have a video about that (I don’t think). I looked. Haha! I got there first!
The green sichuan peppercorns are a separate species that stays green when ripe. Sansho peppercorns can also be red (in fact, I’ve never seen them green until today)
7:20 Regular pepper corns are used in many indian "milk sweets". So i imagine if given access to the ingredients indians using Szechuan peppers would be an interesting twist on those.
The peppercorns off of my Szechuan tree will paralyze your mouth and potentially stop your lungs from working at full potency - spices loose a bit when they get old, for sure! Cooked down, they leave a nice flavor akin to black pepper, with a bit of a citrus note. If I take the trouble to peel the flesh away from the seed before it dries, I can tailor the spice to be more of a pepper flavor vs a citrus (or vice versa) .. in any case, it does not contain piperine, so no synergistic effects with turmeric, alas. I haven't gotten any peppercorns from my Sansho tree as of yet, but the leaves DO have a very distinctive peppery flavor. Here in the USA, there is a native winged prickly ash .. I wonder what its fruit tastes like ..
Jared, thank you for another fun episode. There are a few Sansho trees around where I live, and the fruit fresh off the tree is quite tasty... as long as you limit yourself to 2 or three berries (lol). Are you familiar with the spilanthes flower (aka Paracress, jambu, spotflower, Szechuan buttons, or acmella oleracea)? A member of the fast-growing chrysanthemum family, its chemical compound spilanthol delivers a similar numbing sensation as the hydroxy-alpha-sanshool present in Szechuan pepper and its relatives. In the Para region of Brazil, spilanthes is used as the key flavoring of a soup known as tacaca, and is also found in various infusion liquors such as Jambu, Zambu, or Tingala.
In Northwest Vietnam they have Zanthoxylum rhetsa (hạt mắc kén) It seem similar but I think rhetsa is a bit stronger. By itself its insanely mouth numbing and mentholy. If you can't find it I can send you over some if you're interested in trying it.
Oh man.. there are so many more szechuan relatives. Its really such an interesting genus. I'll take a look for rhetsa for a follow up spice video! I'll do some digging on it, but if you have something to send I can be reached at: weirdworldexplorer@gmail.com
I'd love to get more info about poppy seed...as used in European sweets. When I was in Vienna about 20 years ago, they had a store that sold ONLY poppy seed confections. They don't seem to contain any serious level of opium but having enjoyed them since childhood, I guess I am sort of...addicted. The poppy seeds are ground up and cooked with sugar, sometimes other seasoning like vanilla or lemon until they form an oozy black paste. Wads of this is then rolled into coffee cakes, Danishes, sweet breads, sometimes. with nuts or fruit, even chocolate for overkill but it is so good even on its own. If you are interested to find some of these pastries, a good Jewish bakery might be the best bet. The way poppy seeds are sprinkled into muffin batter or bagels makes me laugh. You can barely taste them that way. Those seeds are a food crop in Eastern Europe and and we wpuld do well to grow them locally. Thanks
I'm curious about trying a hot wine recipe with these, from what you said. The numbing effect could be very soothing, and the citrus notes would add something less usual than cinnamon and nutmeg. But, why not keep the other two?
Hi again! We talked yesterday about green Sichuan pepper, remember? I have seen this video now and I believe, that the green Sichuan pepper I mean is NOT the sansho, because it isn't citrussy at all. It's very perfumy, floral. It reminds me of a skin cream when I smell it, but it tastes much better. 🙃 and it is numbing too, but without trying this I can't compare it to the red one. I did ask some Chinese food channels if they knew anything like a recipe being especially with this pepper and no-one said they do, "just use it instead of red pepper" they said, but it's so different...🤔🤔 I heard that there are lots of different Sichuan peppers in China. And these green ones are ripe. But I don't know if they're all the same botanical species. I haven't tried sancho pepper though and haven't heard of timur pepper but andaliman pepper is another on in this family and it is quite hot but awesome. Unfortunately its hard to get and not as cheap as the Sichuan peppers. I got the green one only from one shop and one brand, they just call it "green pepper"... Maybe this helps you a little to explore a few more of these awesome spices? I'd love to hear you describing this pepper. I could imagine it's an acquired taste to some... All the best from Berlin!
Knowing that other peppers in the Szechuan family also numb your mouth, I kind of wonder if American Prickly Ash could be used as a spice. I just ordered some to plant. That'll have to be something I try, one day.
It should work. I plan on trying it too with an American one I found outside. They numb you, and they smell nice, so it must work! They smell a lot like chili peppers on my tree. For some reason the leaves have a slight oniony scent too. Not that you can eat the leaves, though.
That time I tried Fresh Picked Szechuan and it felt like my tongue was dissolving: th-cam.com/video/ZBEMKshPhUk/w-d-xo.html
Burning tongue
Yea itll do that lol. Growing my own xanthoxylum simulans from seed. I'm so excited to have my own stash.
i wish i could eat green peppercorns but that stuff makes me nauseous
*tounge falls off cutely*
Have you tried the indian teppal? It is lemony.
Interestingly, there are actually three species of zanthoxylum native to the US(one in the midwest and two in the gulf/south florida). They're all referred to as "toothache trees" and were used by indigenous people for their numbing properties.
I've heard of that! On Honeyhorn plantation in Hilton Head Island in SC they have one
Can you make spice out of them?
@unclecharlie9022 isn't he from New Zealand?
As a Nepalese, Timur is a never miss item in my chutney/tomato salsa...try it sometime and see your life changing
😊..
From india
Big RIP for that 1 lost strawberry piece. Gone but never forgotten x
I put these peppercorns in my mulled wine recipe. Really kicks it up to an exotic level.
great idea!
simply amazing , no non-sense channel which includes reviews (and sensory tagging) and then recipes , ekdum kamaal
Mixing sansho in tartar sauce is really great for fried foods. Also there was an old grandmother in shikoku that made shaved ice with sansho and lemon and condensed milk many years ago.
So it sounds like sansho is quite a bit different than regular black pepper, and they are not at all interchangeable with one another...
Oh my goodness those both sound delicious
If you purchased your Szechuan Pepper from a grocery store, it's actually likely a blend of different species. Zanthoxylum simulans is the predominant ingredient, but Z. armatum, Z. bungeanum, and Z. acanthopodium are often included simply due to regional sourcing.
MOMOS ARE SOOOOO GOOD!!!! They’re SO special. An absolutely underrated dumpling. Thanks for the momo love. 😍
I haven't had sansho recently but way more of a tingle situation than with szechuan. with the latter I get numbing/tingly, with the timur I got electricity. I'm going to try my Timur again today, but at last taste I got grapefruit, lime rind, a relatively "dank" weed, and pineapple. So so fruity while szechuan for me has always only been good for its slight heat and tingles
Good description of timur! I get berry notes but grapefruit is definitely in there as well.
One other thing I could think of to improve your jam recipe there is to make a spice extract with the timur/sichuan/sansho peppercorn with something neutral like vodka or everclear, then add that to the cooking fruit and sugar so that the alcohol cooks off. You should still get the spicy notes that are nice, but you won't have to deal with the grit of the spices which I think most people don't want in a jam. Thanks for another fun episode!
Good idea! Cooking the spice can kill off some of the numbing quality too, so I wonder if alcohol would retain it better.
@@WeirdExplorer It might work to steep the crushed peppercorns in alcohol -- as little as possible -- for a day or so so that you don't affect the numbing effect by heating them. Strain out the pieces and add the tincture to the jam mixture late in the cooking process.
Also, use less water in the jam mixture so you don't have to cook it for so long or at such high heat. You'll get a fresher flavour from the fruit.
Lemon or other acid isn't added to jam just for taste -- some low-acid fruits need it in order for the gel to form properly.
@@WeirdExplorer if you toast the peppercorns in a pan on medium heat for about 30 seconds until the peppercorns are warm to the touch and then immediately grind them in a spice grinder, the pericarp with the oils separates from the gritty interior as a fine powder that clings to the inside of the lid of the grinder. This powder is very fine and seems to dissolve when used in foods. I haven’t successfully made an alcohol extract of sichuan peppercorns that was faithful to the flavor.
My husband and I started making momo when the pandemic took hold. The sauce is my favorite part! Now you’ve got me dreaming of a plum and Szechuan peppercorn tart…🤔🤤
I had the same thought about sweet vs. savory, and put szechuan peppercorns in an apricot/kumquat cobbler once. It didn't taste bad, but it really didn't go with the fruit the way I'd hoped. Tasted like it would go much better in some kind of gingerbread.
Gingerbread? That sounds like a very good idea.
Those dumpling wrappers always make me think of face huggers. The vague fleshy color, the slight transparency... I can't unsee it.
In Nepal, Lapsi(Choerospondias axillaris/Nepalese hog plum) jams/ sweets are made with asafetida and pepper. Maybe these peppers can be incorporated the same way.
Have you ever tried Indian prickly ash (zanthoxylum rhetsa)? In Vietnam it's called mắc khén, and it's used in the Thái and H'mong peoples in the northwestern mountainous region, along with the much harder-to-come-by hạt dổi (Michelia tonkinensis A.Chev. / no common English name), to form the basis of a delicious dipping condiment called chẳm chéo. Highly recommended.
sounds like I need to do a follow up video!
On the Michelia (which I believe is considered part of Magnolia today), is it the flower petals that are eaten?
@@Erewhon2024 in this case the dried berry is used as a spice, then prior to use, briefly toasted over an open flame, then ground. It's supposedly foraged, and therefore quite expensive by Vietnamese standards. The smell is earthy, musky, and licorice-like.
Lol came here to mention makhwaen (I learned about it in northern Thailand). Then I saw your username. Should mention that mắc khén is great in beer ;) Dunno if Gray mentioned it but Sơn Sette is one of my all time fave brews!
@@WeirdExplorer in that case please also check out Indian Peepli pepper , looks like skinny clove but tastes exactly like black pepper
You let the Momo special shine a light on you
We are loving these spice videos Jared, as spice aficionados its always exciting to be introduced to a new one. Timur pepper is new to me! I grew Zanthoxylum simulans in my garden for years which was fun.
One of the rarest dish I know uses this or perhaps a related spice "er ma". I have never seen it served in any restaurant ever. Basically you have a polenta of barley flour, served in a nettle soup garnished with chilli, tomato and this spice. The dish was called 'zen kong'
@Tenpoll enpoll: Zen Kong sounds like one of Donkey Kong's stoner relatives.
Crazy. I remember subscribing to you when you had like 12k followers and now you have 300k. I knew this niche genre on TH-cam would blow up for you. Only thing else I feel would put your channel over the top is a travel companion to converse with.
Great video. I’ve got an Asian multi mart two blocks from my house and headed there right after I watched this. Found some joyluck brand Sichuan . Wild stuff. Got close to ten minutes of tingle and now I’m a bit numb. Didn’t get any scoville experience in-spite of claims that it should be between 50’000 and 70’000. Can’t wait to try that sauce
Thanks for exposing me to new things.
Made a Szechuan mousse today. Straight evil. Too beautiful for this world . I’ve been making things with this spice all day. That is my favorite aspect of this channel, this fine fellow marks the x on the map! I find the ingredients and then it is all rubix cubes from there. How do I work this in? So far this is my favorite,maybe because it is challenging, possibly because of the novel tingle
I worked at an ice cream store in San Francisco called Humphry Slocombe, and we made a Strawberry Szechuan Sorbet with szechuan peppercorns. It was AMAZING!
my favourite cooking channel back at it again
Hope you enjoy
No one is making videos that gives differences on different types of peppers like you
Love this
I love the cooking segment! I imagine you can't do that every episode, but it's really cool to see what you can do with things. I love seeing how people put different spices together when they cook
I had the same idea about using szechuan pepper in a (somewhat) sweet preparation. Ended up making mandarin/Ginger/szechuan sorbet. Was really good
I always felt that Timut peppercorns have a distinctly grapefruit note. And I think you must have some really old Szechuan peppercorns, because I find they’re usually SUPER lemony…
Thank you for making this video & shedding light on this spice family.
I occasionally see sansho ice cream here in Japan. It's quite good.
Never had timur, though I use red and green sichuan pepper all the time. Only ever had sansho in a pre made shichimi togarashi mix. I really want to try a combination of raspberry and timur, since I know that raspberry and grapefruit is a phenomenal flavour combo. It would have to be something that actually benefits from the numbing flavour, though, which is hard to think of in a sweet recipe. In mapo tofu the tofu is used as a contrast to the spicy and numbing sauce, so maybe the best translation of tofu would be panna cotta? I'd make a vodka tincture of the timur pepper and mix it into some basic raspberry sauce. Then serve that on top of a fior di latte panna cotta, with some sliced fresh figs and crushed hazelnut praline on the side.
you could maybe try putting silken tofu in a blender to make sort of a pudding
Cool. I've posted this before but there is a native shrub in TX that is in the same genus as Sichuan Peppers called Texas Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum hirsutum). When I was a kid we would chew the leaves to make our mouths numb. Both the leaves and fruit are edible. I found one near my house during a recent park litter clean up and yep, it still numbs your mouth!
Very cool! I'll have to try that one still.
@@WeirdExplorer There's a midwest/northeastern US prickly ash too, supposed to be very similar to sichuan peppercorn, but I haven't tried it.
Zanthoxylum hirsutum has such a strong lemon/citrus smell that I thought it was a lemon tree that just made malformed fruit when I was a kid!
Came back to rewatch this. I friggin love your cooking montages. You’ve got the coolest channel on the ‘Tube.
I'm absolutely loving this series! Please keep it going for as long as you can (and want :) )
Yes! Something from Nepal at last. Thank you Weird Explorer. Keeping on exploring! Also I am really amazed at your momo making skills.
Another great pepper video!
Glad you like them!
You have a bread machine! I recognize that square bread shape anywhere xD
The timur pepper sounds like it might do well with some fruit icecream or sorbet too and maybe use a little of the sansho for lemon curd.
Yep that was made by Mr. Loaf, a 90s bread machine I picked up at the salvation army for $10. Worth every penny.
Another type, from Sumatra, is Batak pepper (aka Andaliman pepper) - Zanthoxylum acanthopodium. We use it as an almost immediate *headache* cure; when you pop a few in your mouth it is an extremely saline sensation, then your headache disappears.
These are so cool! Please do a followup with some of the other Zanthoxylum species people are mentioning!
I thought Sansho and Szechuan Pepper was the same. Good to know it's a different variety! We have a great Momo place in Columbus, OH if you are ever in the area!
Love the Devine shirt!
I purchased this (Timur pepper) thinking that it was black pepper. I realized my mistake when I put them on my eggs in the morning and contemplated returning it as I was really turned off by the flavor. I tried adding a small amount to my eggs for a few days and developed a taste for it, now I really love it.
I think I'm going to try to make szechuan and ginger beer on the weekend - wish me luck!
With Szechuan peppercorns you have to buy from very specific suppliers because most importers pasteurize them before they get to the west therefore booking off allot of the aromatic oils I got some from this one website and the difference was immaculate
Ah, so you are finally giving these attention. I have all three in my spice bin. I have 1.5 kg red sichuan peppercorns, 0.5 kg green sichuan peppercorns, and 200g timur. I’m obsessed! The numbing is perfect to balance out the heat of very spicy food like Chongqing hot pot
Thanks for taking one more for the team by eating Szechuan peppercorns again after your previous videos tasting it. 😂
I was watching randomly japanese cooking
(tofu curry),at the end he put sansho pepper powder. so i got to know what is that and I found this video. not only informative i think it's the only video in TH-cam about the topic 🤷. thanks
Oh this was great! Enjoyed the idea of spice and berries! You got me thinking.. thank you!
Thanks. Grew some giant cayenne peppers. No heat, but made my mouth tingle.
In Indonesia, the most common species found are Z. acanthopodium or Andaliman and this plant is very difficult to cultivate outside the island of Sumatra.
Those are spice plants?
@@Realatmx yes, sir.
Love this & love all your work! You put the adventure back into food.
I have an unknown Zanthoxylum species that I found at a small market in Luang Prabang in Laos, It has a very herbal, almost evergreen-like flavour. it was labled as Makkhan.
See comment above by @Chris Jarvis about mắc khén, probably the same?
@@hydroxacte must be! Completely missed that comment, thanks for the head's up. I'm gonna have to try making Chẩm chéo or adding it to some beer'
It's strange.. Makkhan means butter in indian language
yumm i love jams and jellies, especially with the spicy/sweet combo 🤤 that strawberry stuff looks great
You should try spice blends from around the world too. Especially ones locals would recommend. Try brands people suggest in particular recipes. Optional a diy.
Got some suggestions if you want.
A similar spice grows in India used in Goa and coastal Karnataka called teppal in Konkani, jummankayi in Kannada
After having viewed your various Citrus hybrid shows I could not help but wonder if there are any mad botanists out there trying to hybridize one of these peppers with lemon to grow lemon Peppers :-)
Same family, but not the same subfamily (let alone genus--Citrus is crossed with kumquats but those are also in Citrus today, so the only thing outside the genus is Poncirus [which differs only in having deciduous, trifoliate leaves rather than evergreen simple ones; it is unpleasant but so are some wild Citrus]) I believe. Anyway, mixing products isn't difficult, and lemon pepper uses zest + black pepper. Black pepper and Sichuan pepper are rather different in flavor.
Strawberry preserves seems like the perfect solution for my unloved sansho. I never fell for it in savory uses.
Integrating that into jam is an excellent idea!
I'm already on my second jar!
If you liked sansho and haven't had sansho leaves (a springtime seasonal spice), I highly recommend them! I've never seen them sold in the US and they're eaten fresh, not dried. They have a similar flavor to sansho 'peppercorns' but less intense and more herbal. With my family, we mix white miso paste, a little soy sauce and plenty of katsuobushi flakes, then top it with a few sprigs of the sansho leaves to eat over hot rice.
Nice Jams 🎵"Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me"🎵
That music reminds me of the Poddington Peas theme.
Black pepper is sometimes used in ginger cookies, I might try some szechuan pepper next time
You should try Andaliman if you can find it. It's an Indonesian variety in the same family
Also known as sinyarnyar by the Angkola and empan by the Gayo
i love timmur
For a while, the FDA was threatening to ban Szechuan pepper. I bought a lifetime supply and hid it in my deep freezer. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Very citrusy with a slight bitter caraway seed flavour. I only realised that majenga leaves used to flavour meat stews in north east India are from tve Sichuan / Timur pepper plant
Where I live, I can mail order from a Dutch online spice store, and that’s how I was introduced to timur/timut pepper (lovely aroma!), and lots of other things which are considered peppers; as a suggestion, I’d say you could try out “malam pepper”, an african wild berry from near Cameroon. I use them to add as a spice when pickling my home grown peppers, and boy do they make a hell of a unique pickle. I’d describe them as smokey, yet berry-like. Very unique.
Also, that store I mentioned sells “andaliman pepper”, which is also a (rare) sichuan pepper relative from Sumatra. It’s scientific name is zhantoxylum acanthopodium. Flavor-wise it’s more savory and bizarre tasting than the ones in this video, but still good to use as a spice.
Thanks for another great video Jared. I absolutely love your channel, as it triggered me to grow exotic solanums which has become a major hobby of mine, my jaltomata are ripening on my plant as I type this. :)
Hey Victor. Thats great! I'll try and track down some Malam pepper. any idea what the species is on that one? analiman is already on my list.. maybe for a new szechuan relative video :)
Glad to hear you're growing some solanum rarities! Jaltomata is a really fun one!
@@WeirdExplorer Based on the geography, could it just be a different common name for Selim pepper (Xylopia), which you already reviewed?
@@Erewhon2024 Good thinking, but no, it's definitely a different species.
@@WeirdExplorerHi Jared. I tried really hard to find the scientific name for it, but to no avail... It seems to be known solely as malam, I'm sorry to disappoint you with that.
My mother always had strawberries and white pepper, so it doesn't seem like that far a stretch to use other pepper-like spices.
They have a nice specimen of Zanthoxylum simulans at the New York Botanical Garden. One of the few species that is self-fertile. Grows well in the northeast.
Being Cantonese, we rarely have szechuan pepper in our cuisine and honestly, I don’t like it very much! But I looove sansho pepper because it’s not completely numbing and has more of the citrus flavour compared to szechuan. It’s gentle and mild which I like!
That Divine shirt rocks.
I have become a big fan of Szechuan peppercorns, it allows me to eat spicy foods without really having any of the heat
The prickly ash pepper is a common name in every NE Naga kitchen, we eat the leaves too in every vegetable & non -veg recipes.
The food in NE India was so interesting! I loved the spices.
Awesome video thank you 😊. I think the pepper would also work really well to make apricot chutney SA style. Added apricots, sugar, vinegar, the pepper, onions, bit of salt and a few raisins. Cook like a jam. Could add other spices to go with the pepper as well. Much love and be blessed!
Have you ever tried using dried papaya seeds as a pepper substitute? Very peppery and so healthy. I dry and grind them with salt to add to food instead of regular pepper a d also grind them as is to add to fruit salads .
I could never use them as peppercorn *substitutes* but I quite enjoyed the flavor last time I dried and ground some. Reminded me if the peppery flavor of the Nasturtium flowers and leaves. The two just taste far too different to me because I kind of wound up being picky about peppercorns I guess. I used it too much in very specific ways as a kid so I know its basic flavourful profiles too well. ...I just realized I have never roasted any of the dried seeds, so I don't know how that changes the flavor profile.
(disclaimer: I am absolutely no super taster I have just been fond of some types of bitter flavors since childhood and am sensitive/attentive to sensory input from my nose and tongue)
@@Call-me-Al you can use the seeds pods of nasturtiums as capers when pickled as well. Nasturtiums are a staple in my home. The whole plant
@@odettestroebel3135 thanks for the tip! I love capers :)
@@Call-me-Al my pleasure. Have a super day
Damn O'Driscolls!!!!!!
I've been waiting to say that since, I bought strawberries the other day.
I found a recipe for “mocha mousse with Szechuan peppercorns” looks good
I have always read that these peppers are used as a way to numb your mouth from the heat of chilis so you can appreciate more of their flavors without the heat taking over. Probably why most recipes are savory.
The northernmost U.S. native Zanthoxylum (Z. americanum) is known as "toothache ash" (ash, or sometimes "prickly ash," b/c it does indeed have thorns, for the foliage which resembles Fraxinus; toothache b/c of the Novocaine-like effect of the spice)
OMG, it’s always you. I foraged prickly ash yesterday and wanted to learn about it. Any time I forage something you have a video about it. BUT… I have nannyberries and you don’t have a video about that (I don’t think). I looked. Haha! I got there first!
Oh and thanks for the recipe. I will try that with these. That is why I came to TH-cam right now. I’ve never had MoMo’s.
A-ha! NOW I know what that strange spice is that I have at my Napalese Tarkaris at my favorite Himalayan restaurant!
The green sichuan peppercorns are a separate species that stays green when ripe. Sansho peppercorns can also be red (in fact, I’ve never seen them green until today)
I think anything you think might work in a dessert context might be interesting to try in a flan. ☺️
this really makes me wanna experiment with jams
awesome jam recipe, i wanna give that a shot
Thank you for this video ! 🌺
7:20
Regular pepper corns are used in many indian "milk sweets".
So i imagine if given access to the ingredients indians using Szechuan peppers would be an interesting twist on those.
The peppercorns off of my Szechuan tree will paralyze your mouth and potentially stop your lungs from working at full potency - spices loose a bit when they get old, for sure! Cooked down, they leave a nice flavor akin to black pepper, with a bit of a citrus note. If I take the trouble to peel the flesh away from the seed before it dries, I can tailor the spice to be more of a pepper flavor vs a citrus (or vice versa) .. in any case, it does not contain piperine, so no synergistic effects with turmeric, alas. I haven't gotten any peppercorns from my Sansho tree as of yet, but the leaves DO have a very distinctive peppery flavor. Here in the USA, there is a native winged prickly ash .. I wonder what its fruit tastes like ..
I love Szechuan pepper! My pepper for my people.
Jared, thank you for another fun episode.
There are a few Sansho trees around where I live, and the fruit fresh off the tree is quite tasty... as long as you limit yourself to 2 or three berries (lol).
Are you familiar with the spilanthes flower (aka Paracress, jambu, spotflower, Szechuan buttons, or acmella oleracea)? A member of the fast-growing chrysanthemum family, its chemical compound spilanthol delivers a similar numbing sensation as the hydroxy-alpha-sanshool present in Szechuan pepper and its relatives.
In the Para region of Brazil, spilanthes is used as the key flavoring of a soup known as tacaca, and is also found in various infusion liquors such as Jambu, Zambu, or Tingala.
thanks! Yes, i had the toothache plant in this video: th-cam.com/video/7WU2Wdqk6rI/w-d-xo.html
That timur toast with cream cheese would be great 😮
In Northwest Vietnam they have Zanthoxylum rhetsa (hạt mắc kén) It seem similar but I think rhetsa is a bit stronger. By itself its insanely mouth numbing and mentholy. If you can't find it I can send you over some if you're interested in trying it.
Oh man.. there are so many more szechuan relatives. Its really such an interesting genus. I'll take a look for rhetsa for a follow up spice video! I'll do some digging on it, but if you have something to send I can be reached at: weirdworldexplorer@gmail.com
I'd love to get more info about poppy seed...as used in European sweets. When I was in Vienna about 20 years ago, they had a store that sold ONLY poppy seed confections. They don't seem to contain any serious level of opium but having enjoyed them since childhood, I guess I am sort of...addicted. The poppy seeds are ground up and cooked with sugar, sometimes other seasoning like vanilla or lemon until they form an oozy black paste. Wads of this is then rolled into coffee cakes, Danishes, sweet breads, sometimes. with nuts or fruit, even chocolate for overkill but it is so good even on its own. If you are interested to find some of these pastries, a good Jewish bakery might be the best bet. The way poppy seeds are sprinkled into muffin batter or bagels makes me laugh. You can barely taste them that way. Those seeds are a food crop in Eastern Europe and and we wpuld do well to grow them locally. Thanks
It would probably make a good ingredient in a tea.
😊
Good call on that flavor combo.
Love the divine shirt ♥
The sauce looked delicious
I'm curious about trying a hot wine recipe with these, from what you said. The numbing effect could be very soothing, and the citrus notes would add something less usual than cinnamon and nutmeg. But, why not keep the other two?
Hi again! We talked yesterday about green Sichuan pepper, remember? I have seen this video now and I believe, that the green Sichuan pepper I mean is NOT the sansho, because it isn't citrussy at all. It's very perfumy, floral. It reminds me of a skin cream when I smell it, but it tastes much better. 🙃 and it is numbing too, but without trying this I can't compare it to the red one. I did ask some Chinese food channels if they knew anything like a recipe being especially with this pepper and no-one said they do, "just use it instead of red pepper" they said, but it's so different...🤔🤔
I heard that there are lots of different Sichuan peppers in China. And these green ones are ripe. But I don't know if they're all the same botanical species.
I haven't tried sancho pepper though and haven't heard of timur pepper but andaliman pepper is another on in this family and it is quite hot but awesome. Unfortunately its hard to get and not as cheap as the Sichuan peppers.
I got the green one only from one shop and one brand, they just call it "green pepper"...
Maybe this helps you a little to explore a few more of these awesome spices? I'd love to hear you describing this pepper. I could imagine it's an acquired taste to some...
All the best from Berlin!
Knowing that other peppers in the Szechuan family also numb your mouth, I kind of wonder if American Prickly Ash could be used as a spice. I just ordered some to plant. That'll have to be something I try, one day.
It should work. I plan on trying it too with an American one I found outside. They numb you, and they smell nice, so it must work! They smell a lot like chili peppers on my tree. For some reason the leaves have a slight oniony scent too. Not that you can eat the leaves, though.
Nepalese Timur Sichuan pepper very very good.. item masala using Nepal ❤❤❤