Sichuan pepper
Sichuan pepper is a spice popular in a number of Asian countries. It is difficult to imagine Chinese and Indian cuisine without Sichuan pepper. This is a spicy spice with a slight sourness, which has an original and pronounced smell and taste. The seasoning gives Asian dishes a special, colorful taste. The spice is also known by other names: Japanese pepper and Chinese pepper.
How and where Sichuan pepper grows
Japanese pepper is the fruit of trees of the genus Zantoksilum. This plant is also called yellowwood. It grows in China, southern Korea and the Japanese islands. By the way, Sichuan pepper has nothing to do with red or black pepper, it is a completely different plant.
Only the skin of the fruit is used for cooking, as their seeds are tasteless. As a rule, this spice is made from the dried shell of the fruit. It is turned into a powder, and then used for its intended purpose.
Sichuan pepper is a spicy and spicy seasoning. It has a slight taste of cloves. Sichuan peppers are also sour in taste. The seasoning has a lemon-wood aroma. Some varieties of this plant smell of nutmeg and camphor. Sichuan pepper leaves an aftertaste, which in some ways can be compared with mint: there is a slight numbness and coolness. Sichuan pepper causes a slight tingling, similar to the action of carbonated water.
Unlike ordinary black pepper, the sharpness of Sichuan is not hot, but more spicy.
Useful properties of Sichuan pepper
Japanese pepper has a lot of useful properties. Without a doubt, we can say that this spice has a positive effect on health. The fruits of the plant are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
In particular, this spice has wind-blowing properties. It has a good effect on the stomach, improves digestion, prevents flatulence. The plant also has antihypertensive properties: it dilates blood vessels, normalizes blood circulation, lowers blood pressure. Sichuan pepper also has anesthetic properties. It is even used as an anesthetic, making a paste or ointment from the plant.
However, the spice has contraindications. It should not be added to food for people with stomach ulcers and other organs.
Applications in cooking and medicine
Sichuan peppers are added to enhance the smell and taste of meat and fish dishes. This spice is used to create sauces, it is added to rice and vegetables, used in canning. Sichuan pepper will be a great addition to noodles, seafood dishes, it is well suited for salads and many other dishes.
These spices go well with cloves, ginger and coriander, star anise. A good combination will give a tandem of Sichuan peppers with tangerine peel or white sesame seeds.
Replace this seasoning with another is quite difficult. But if there is no other option, you can take equal proportions of black pepper and coriander, or cloves and black pepper in a ratio of one to two. You can combine it with exotic chili peppers.
Sichuan pepper has long been used in folk medicine in Asian countries, including China, as a means of improving digestion. The infusion of this plant helps with colds and lowers blood pressure. Sichuan pepper is used as an antimicrobial agent.