Do any of you harvest Sichuan peppercorns from prickly ash trees?

Do any of you cook with Sichuan peppercorns?

I have 2 small prickly ash trees, which are loaded with Sichuan peppercorns this year.

Keith

Keith , I don't think I’ve ever heard or saw of them. Any chance you can post a pic. Eric

Here's some of the Sichuan peppercorns. You remove the black.seeds and use the husk.






Keith

Very cool looking tree fruit. What would you pair them when cooking? Keith, I know I could probably get all this from google but it’s nice to hear from the “locals”. Eric

Sichuan peppercorns are used in almost all dishes from the Sichuan province of China. PF. Chang and other more expensive Chinese restaurants uses them in lots of the food they sell.

I just picked some. They literally have the most pleasant citrus aroma I have ever smelled. There's sticky residue on the berries that attracts tiny ants. I licked some of the residue off of my fingers and it is amazing. It's sweet, citrus flavored and makes my tongue, mouth and lips tingle.

If there's any prickly ash trees near you, I highly recommend trying the peppercorns.

Keith

Sichuan peppercorn sounds like of form of martial arts or a yoga pose to me

… sorry I wasn’t much help

I grind Sichuan Peppercorns in a mortar and use them in many dishes :-)

Never used them but our local chinaman joint has Sichuan chicken and I love it.

Is that the fruit of the PA, or another plant growing up it?

That's the fruit of the prickly ash. The little black orbs are the seeds. The red parts are the husks around the seeds. As the berries ripen the husks split open and expose the seed. The seeds are supposed to be bitter. The husks are what you eat and in my very recent experience are fantastic.

Keith

Do you harvest them yourself?

Any tricks on processing them?

How much do you put in a dish you are cooking?

Keith

No, I don't grow them, wish I could here. I grind them in the mortar or you can do it in a coffee bean grinder . . . just don't inhale when you take the lid off!! WHEW! :-)
It all depends on the dish and how hot / spicy I want it. I eat a lot of HOT / SPICY Asian food anyway :-))))

PS, I grind all my fresh peppercorns black, white, and Sichuan the same way. Can't beat FRESH ground or cracked pepper! :-)

Prickly ash can grow in Delaware. It tolerates zones 3 to 7. If you want some seeds, please let me know and I'll mail you some.

Keith

Thanks Keith for the offer! . . . but I don't think it would go over well with farming here :-)

You're welcome.

Keith

Is that the spice that makes sichuan food hot?

I've been working to erradicat the prickly ash here, it makes navigation in the woods impossible as it's so thick. How do you separate the seeds from husk and how much do you add to a dish?

I need ti figure out how to eradicate prickly ash hear in MO. So thick under mature hardwoods it destroys any chance of regeneration of white oaks. Stem count is way to much for herbicide and conservation wants me to use prescribe fire every two years. I did not know berry's where edible but know native Americans used bark for tooth aches.

A very good question I have no idea what they are or if they are edible or have any use But you have gotten some feed back And once again I learn some thing from Trapperman You guys are awesome

It's more like a citrus aeromantic than "hot" :-)