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Comment by hvs | Hacker News Reader

I only recently became aware of the Sichuan "pepper" or at least its effects. Maybe I had somehow managed to never get it in large enough quantities to notice (I have certainly eaten Sichuan/Szechuan food many times in my life), but a recent experience with a a Sichuan dish that had a lot of Sichuan oil in it gave me the full mouth-numbing experience. I have to say I have been hooked ever since.

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For decades Sichuan pepper was loosely banned then required to be heated to import in to the US (and likely other countries) because of a fear of citrus canker and the heat killed the numbing chemical. That has changed but you still need properly prepared and relatively fresh husks to get the effect. I've eaten Sichuan food my entire life but never had anything numbing until I went to China.

> you still need properly prepared and relatively fresh husks to get the effect

In the UK here. I've found that any old bag of dried, ground, Sichuan pepper, or dried Sichuan pepper corns that you grind yourself, will cause the effect. No need for 'proper preparation' or freshness, just sprinkle Sichuan pepper on the food.

The pepper is greenish in colour. Just add liberally and you'll get the numbness.

I bought a jar from my local high end gourmet market and got nothing from them. Then bought some off Penzeys and not only do I get the numbing effect but the husks have an intense fruity flavor that is not present in the other brand.

There are two different kinds - red and green. The red ones are the ones you usually find in dried format, and imo they aren't very numbing unless you really crush up a lot of them. The green ones tend to have more fruitiness and numbing power, especially if you can get them fresh. Otherwise it's probably easier to just buy the pre-seasoned oil.

> There are two different kinds - red and green. The red ones are the ones you usually find in dried format, and imo they aren't very numbing unless you really crush up a lot of them. The green ones tend to have more fruitiness and numbing power, especially if you can get them fresh. Otherwise it's probably easier to just buy the pre-seasoned oil.

The red ones are the ones that are normally used in Sichuan cooking and they are plenty numbing.

The green ones (from a slightly different species) are more common in Japanese cooking

You don't really want to substitute them for each other.

I don't know enough about Japanese cooking to comment extensively on that, but I do know that there is an ingredient called sanshō that looks similar to green Sichuan peppers. That is not the ingredient I am talking about.

From my observations living in China, shopping at wet markets and eating in restaurants, green Sichuan pepper is quite commonly used. Both red and green variants are sold in dry format, but the red ones are the ones you will find more often pre-packaged in supermarkets. They do both work to create a numbing sensation, but in my opinion, the green ones get you more bang for your buck.

It seems like you're right and they're different; there are apparently a whole bunch of different species.

Sansho is Zanthoxylum piperitum and green sichuan pepper apparently may be Zanthoxylum armatum, so red sichuan pepper, green sichuan pepper, and sansho may all be different species.

There is also Zanthoxylum schinifolium which is apparently used in Korean "Sancho".

I recently opened a bag of Sichuan pepper bought from a street vendor in Sichuan fifteen years ago. Still highly potent, more so than the stuff carried by local import stores.

We don't usually eat them raw as it is just like peppercorns. The common treatment is to pour heated oil (a higher smoking one) over it to excite its flavour. Still numbing though if you happen to chew one.

Same experience here.

I've since bought Sichuan peppercorns from a local Asian grocery store and made my own oil and have gotten a good effect.

Your use of of the Wade-Giles "Szechuan" is telling; when written as such it refers to subclass of Chinese-American food catered to American tastes. It's great food in its own right, but not what its name suggests.

In Sichuan they put this stuff in everything. Start off with a breakfast of Numbing & Spicy beef noodle soup. Mid morning a snack of cold rice noodles with lajao & haujao paste on it. ChuanChuan for lunch, Hot Pot for dinner and finish it off with a spicy BBQ in the evening.

“Szechwan” is not Wade-Giles. The Wade-Giles transliteration would be Ssŭ-chʻuan. Szechuan is the Postal romanization.

its so good, isn't it? Sichuan chili oil has become my favorite condiment. I make it at home in batches and add it to practically everything.

Incredible how good just rice, a dash of light soy sauce, an egg, and a good helping of chili oil can taste.

Do you make it yourself? What kind of oil do you use? Do you have a link to a recipe? I want to try it! Sounds yummy

I've modified it slightly over time, but the base is pretty much this recipe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXPNq3QdfY

Lovely. Thank you! Any modifications you can recommend?

I've been looking for toasted rapeseed, but even our mainland market doesn't carry it. To substitute, I roast whole barley to infuse canola.

You can probably just add a little sesame oil to it instead. Corn oil and grape seed are also fine carriers.

As for recipes, Kenji Alt-Lopez has a wok cookbook with some for chili oils, but Fuchsia Dunlop is really the definitive author on Sichuan cooking.

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