Ma khaen - Laotian mountain pepper

This mountain pepper, which is called ma khaen in Laos,  grows wild in the mountainous Luang Prabang, in the northern Laos.

The pepper is mainly collected by women, and is an important source of income. In the Luang Prabang region, ma khaen is the fifth most important non-timber forest product according to FAO data. For a long time, the bushes were cut down completely to harvest the berries, but nowadays the harvest takes place in a sustainable way, without deforestation.

This mountain pepper is the berry of a wild Szechuan pepper, or actually peppers. The berry comes from the Zanthoxylum rhetsa or the Zanthoxylum limonella. It is famous for its taste palette, not so much for its pungency, as you would expect from a Szechuan pepper.

He has  a mildly pungent sharpness and the unmistakable citrus flavour (mandarin) that becomes stronger and sweeter when the pepper is heated. The tree on which this pepper grows is the Indian mountain pepper or in Indian triphal, which grows naturally in an area called the Indamalaya, the ecozone that extends from India to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, including Vietnam. The tree grows there up to 1,500 metres in humid, dense forests.

The berry is quite small, just like the berry of the andaliman and, just like the andaliman, is harvested by hand. No easy task, because the branches of the Zanthoxylum have venomous thorns. The berries grow in smaller clusters that manifest themselves as 'mini star anise' when dried. Each berry contains one seed.

We also have a Vietnamese version of the same plant.

The unique sharpness experience of sanshol

Characteristic of all Zanthoxylum peppers, and therefore also of the 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‰.

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 somato-sensation, 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 berries have a complex aroma, in which you  tangerine peel and tea, but also anise and menthol, and the sweet notes of angelica. The scent is related to that of black pepper due to the high content of sabinene, which is higher in the dried berry than in the fresh.This is the flavor palette:

• D-limonene (dipentene), sweet citrus flavor, found in modest amounts in nutmeg, mace and cardamom,
• β-phellandrene, pleasant mint and citrus flavor, also found in allspice,
• β-pinene, woody pine odor, as in cumin, pine (cone), juniper and hemp,
• sabinene, responsible for the woody, camphor-like taste of black pepper, among other things
• carvotan acetone, also minty, as in angelica.
• dihydrocarbohydrate as in black pepper and black tea, and
• the bitter terpinol, - mainly found in the seeds - as in cranberries.

This pepper is therefore delicious in combination with the aforementioned spices, and in general with products that go well with citrus such as shellfish and shellfish, white fish, salmon, white butter sauces, veal, pork and duck. Can be eaten raw and added at the last moment, and is delicious in vegetable salads and in desserts or with fruit.

In India, people prefer to use the pepper called triphal (Marathi) or triphala (Gujarati) 'pure', that is, not in combination with other spices. Triphal is used mainly in fish dishes, just like in Vietnam, where mountain pepper is eaten with grilled fish, with grilled or dried meat and with smoked buffalo meat. Sometimes meat is rubbed with ground mountain pepper to make the meat better preserved.

Usage

Roast the whole fruits. Crush the fruits, which will release the seeds. These are best crushed with a mortar, the seed pods are best ground. Just like the whole berries (with seeds), provided they are roasted crispy beforehand.

Features:

• 100% berries of the Zanthoxylum rhetsa
• origin:  Luang Prabang, Laos
  

Assortment

• available in glass, stand-up pouch and test tube
• glass jar contains 30 grams
• stand-up pouches with a capacity of up to 30 to 300 grams
• available in 10 ml test tube
• 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

• but khaen  is a versatile Sichuan pepper, used both raw and roasted.
  

Save:

• store your pepper in a closed container
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• at least good until July 2026 (07/26)
• This expiration date is an indication

Do you want to know how  how does ma khaen taste?

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