'Why does my mouth feel funny?!?'
...is the typical reaction from someone experiencing Sichuan peppercorns for the first time. Like all really good, bad, or just plain strange ‘firsts’ in our lives, your first ‘ma la’ experience is not one you easily forget. My ‘ma la' initiation came at the age of 12 in one of the 30,000 (don’t look that up) nondescript regional Chinese hole-in-the-wall restaurants that pockmark the San Gabriel Valley of LA where I grew up. When I looked up quizzically from my bowl of Sichuan noodle soup, my mom had this mischievous smirk on her face like she knew exactly what she was doing when she ordered it for me. Frat bros got nothing on the hazing skills of Chinese moms.
In Chinese, ‘ma’ is numbing and ‘la’ is spicy. And ‘ma la’ is the hallmark flavor/sensation of Sichuan cuisine. Interestingly enough, the Sichuan peppercorn itself doesn’t impart much spice. I’ll leave it to the mad food scientist, Harold McGee, to explain the scientifical stuff:
"The active chemical compounds [in Sichuan peppercorns], the sanshools, are members of the same family as piperine [active compound in black pepper]. Piperine is about 100 times less spicy than capsaicin in chillies. Sanshools produce a strange, tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or of a mild electrical current. 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.”
TL;DR: Your mouth feels funny because science.
The peppercorns themselves aren’t that spicy but in Sichuan food they are almost guaranteed to be paired with fresh, dried and/or fermented chilies, typically at near-excessive amounts. According to seasoned Sichuan peppercorn professionals (i.e. my family), the cool, numbing sensation allows you to eat more spice than you typically would, which is always a good thing.
Flower Pepper
The peppercorns originate from the Sichuan province in the southwest region of China, directly neighboring Tibet to the east.
The small tree in the citrus family grows in the mountainous areas of northwestern Sichuan and is sometimes called ‘prickly ash’ or, if you find yourself at a cocktail party with Mr. McGee and his pals, Zanthoxylum simulans.
Sichuan peppercorns are dried berry husks that are either green or red (with red being much more common) and are rough and knobby on the surface. The black seed within has little taste with an unpleasant gritty texture when bitten and is left behind in processing.
In Chinese, the Sichuan peppercorn is called ‘hua jiao’ which translates to ‘flower pepper’. According to Fuchsia Dunlop, the authority figure in all things Sichuan cuisine (in the western world at least), the peppercorns have an “extraordinary, heady aroma that carries hints of wood, citrus peel, and the languid scents of summer.”
The Audacity of Hope…and Sichuan Peppercorn
Sichuan peppercorns are generally used whole in soups and stocks, wok fried in oil with chilies and other aromatics, or ground and mixed with other spices. The most popular traditional Chinese dishes that feature the glorious peppercorn are mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, spicy hot pot, and dan dan noodles.
In recent years, the use of Sichuan peppercorns, and Sichuan cuisine in general, has enjoyed its time in the sun in the cheffy restaurant world. Popular restaurants like Mission Chinese Food, Xian Famous Foods, Han Dynasty and Momofuku (in their homage to mapo tofu- their staple spicy pork sausage and rice cakes dish) all utilize the transformative flavor and neurological powers of the peppercorn. Such is the importance of the little dried berry husk that Danny Bowien, the genius behind Mission Chinese, titled his MAD Symposium (think high school science camp for the best chefs in the world) presentation, “The Audacity of Hope…and Sichuan Peppercorn”. The peppercorns aren't just staying in the restaurant world either, now One Culture Foods' New American Sauces are making it easy to experience the flavor and tingle of the Sichuan peppercorn at home with EARTHY SPICY TINGLY.
While it may never reach sriracha-level ubiquity, the Sichuan peppercorn isn’t going away any time soon. And just like your first time behind the bleachers or your first beer, it’s best to get the ‘first' out of the way because it only gets better from there.
Like waayyy better.