Green Szechuan pepper Qīng huā jiāo

This green huā jiāo. Qīng huā jiāo in full, is a special Szechuan pepper. It is characterized by a fresh lemon aroma, with which it combines well with fish, chicken and vegetables. It is mainly used in hotpot and noodle dishes.

Favorably priced!

This Szechuan pepper is the dried, unripe berry of the Zanthoxylum bungeanum, one of the many species of toothache tree, called prickly ash in English, because of the enormous thorns on the trunk and branches. The pepper is called Szechuan pepper after the region where it naturally grows, Szechuan, the home of one of the ten classical Chinese cuisines. The berry is larger than that of the Zanthoxylum piperatum.

The Zanthoxylum is a plant that can grow into a large tree, the bark of which is covered with coarse, sometimes woody spines. The bark therefore appears to be covered with a row of 'teeth', hence perhaps the Dutch name toothache tree. In traditional Chinese medicine, the peppers and the root are used - not surprisingly given the appearance of the tree - to combat toothache.

The green berry is picked early in the fall, well before the berries burst open and the fairly bitter seeds are released. The berries are traditionally dried in the sun. The better quality Szechuan pepper - like this one - contains no or hardly any seeds and no or hardly any stalks, and is air dried (AD).

There is a clear difference in taste between the larger berry of Zanthoxylum bungeanum and the average smaller one of Zanthoxylum piperitum, which makes the former very popular with Asian chefs.  On the Chinese consumer market, but also in other Asian countries (and Europe), the small and often darker berry is the most popular, partly because of the generally lower price. The 'old guard' in China also holds on to the taste of this generally available Szechuan pepper, but with a preference for the unripe, green one.

The unique sharpness experience of sanshol

Characteristic of all Zanthoxylum peppers, and therefore also of this Szechuan pepper, is the tingling sensation you experience on the tip of your tongue due to a substance in the pepper called sanshool, named after the Japanese sanshō. The pungency is caused by the amides in the peel of the fruit: α-, β-, γ- and δ-sanshool, α hidroxy sanshool and β-hidroxy sanshool. The numbing effect is mainly caused by γ sanshool and α hidroxy sanshool. The amount of α-hidroxy-sanshool in the berries can amount to (well over) 50 ‰ of the dry weight, of γ sanshool around 5‰.

Szechuan is known as the hottest Zanthoxylum pepper. The Indonesian andaliman - a fairly rare species - is conveniently forgotten, because this 'Batak pepper' is also quite hot. By the way, ripe berries are hotter than the unripe ones.

The tingling is accompanied by a slight numbness, jokingly compared to tasting a 9 volt battery. A single berry is enough to experience that! This somatosensation, stimulation by touch, has been used for centuries as an anaesthetic in traditional medicine in Asia. The effect is very complex and the subject of extensive studies. Hydroxy-α-sanshol in particular is said to cause the tingling, and there are certain parallels with the sharpness experience of capsaicin, the sharp substance in chili pepper, but also with menthol and mustard oil.

Smell and taste

The Szechuan berry contains 83 volatile oils, the most important of which are:

• linalyl acetate, responsible for a pleasant citrus, bergamot and lavender scent,
• limonene, the scent of lemon peel,
• linalool, responsible for the scents of rosewood and lavender
  
• geraniol, rose scent,
• geranyl acetate, lavender fragrance.
• β-pinene, pine resin, and
• 1.8 cineole or eucalyptol, camphoraceous
  

A ripe berry contains significantly more linalool, geraniol and geranyl acetate - the rose components - than a green berry.

Combinations

Sichuan pepper combines well with citrus (kafir leaf), lemongrass, coconut, coriander leaf, curry leaf, exotic fruits, poultry, shellfish and shellfish.

Usage

Sichuan pepper occupies a prominent place in classical and modern Sichuan cuisine. It is used in almost every dish, whole or crushed, roasted and/or ground. In Sichuan cuisine it is very common to roast the Sichuan pepper before grinding it. The roasting is meant to 'play' with the aromas.

There is something strange that happens with Szechuan pepper.

The cooking temperature determines the flavor palette of Sichuan pepper.  To bring out the aromas of 1,8-cineole (mint and sweet), linalool (flower and lavender), 2-phenylethanol (honey, spice, rose and lilac), 4-methylacetophenone (bitter almond), and transcarveol (caraway), a temperature of over 70 degrees is needed. At low temperatures (below 40 degrees), aromas such as myrcene (balsamic), limonene (citrus), and hexanal (grassy) will predominate. Same spice, different flavor effect.

Sichuan pepper is one of the ingredients of five-spice powder (wǔxiāng fěn).

For those unfamiliar with Szechuan pepper, it is advisable to start with it with caution and not to eat the pepper raw, unlike the Nepalese timur and the Vietnamese and Laotian  mountain peppers, for example, which can be eaten raw.

Features:

• 100% berries of the Zanthoxylum bungeanum
• origin: Hunan

Assortment

• available in glass, stand-up pouch and test tube  from 10 ml
• larger quantities on request

Gift wrapping

• The jar is available in a tasteful gift packaging, consisting of a cube box filled with black tissue paper
• For an overview of our gift packaging, please refer to the gift packaging section

General advice

• qīng huā jiāo is the Szechuan pepper par excellence in stir-fries and hot pots
  
• use this Szechuan pepper sparingly, and choose to use the berries whole or ground
  
• allow the berry to absorb moisture well, so that the flavour and sharpness are optimally utilised, and play with heat (see this)
  

Save:

• store your kampot pepper in a closed container
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• at least good until October 2026 (10-2026)
• This expiration date is an indication

Do you want to know how this  Szechuan tastes?

You can also try a test tube. The tube contains enough pepper to fathom the flavor essence.

Batch number

The batch number helps us trace which supply an item originates from. It is stated on the packing slip and the invoice