Szechuan peppercorns are the air-dried fruits of a tree native to China
called Chinese prickly ash or flatspine prickly ash. Although they
resemble peppercorns from which we get
black pepper, these fruits are
not true peppercorns.
The rust-colored berries usually have a thin stem attached, which is
connected to a husk, split open to reveal a single black seed. The husk
is said to open like a blossom, which is why it is called hua jiao, or
"flower pepper," in China. Because the seed and husk possess different
flavors, the whole “peppercorn” provides a complex piquancy and moderate
heat that leaves a tingle on the tongue.
In cooking, Szechuan pepper is commonly used in Chinese and Japanese dishes,
such as kung pao chicken and spicy beef and noodles. While the Chinese are
masters of balancing the flavors of sweet, salty, sour, spicy-hot and bitter, in
Sichuan, bitter gives way to "ma," which equates to biting, hot and numbing.
