Szechuan Pepper is back

notbob said:

Yesterday's San Jose Mercury food section had an article about the
imminent return of Szechuan pepper to the US. Evidently, heating the
pepper to >140 deg F for 10 mins is enough to kill the citrus canker
that caused its ban. The article went on to say that although none
has been found locally, Draeger's is hot on the trail. Good thing, as
my horded stash is almost gone.

I saw some last week in the Chinese market on Castro Street, Mountain View.
It was in big plastic bags, probably at least a half pound, in a cardboard
crate near the produce cooler. The bags were mislabelled - no mention of
Szechuan pepper on the label.

When I was in China a couple of years ago, I had a dish that was loaded
with Szechuan pepper, and the experience was far more intense than
anything I've had here at home. Biting into a peppercorn actually
caused my tongue to go numb and tingly for several minutes. After
that meal, I bought some Szechuan peppercorns in a market in Guilin,
and they had the same effect. Since then I've wondered whether the
stuff we used to get here was inferior quality or just stale.

-Joe

Max Hauser said:

"notbob" <[email hidden]> :

Quoted message said:

Yesterday's San Jose Mercury food section had an article
about the imminent return of Szechuan pepper to the US.
... The article went on to say that although none
has been found locally, Draeger's is hot on the trail.

Jeez. I could say something about that but I won't. Draeger's indeed.
Look for it in Chinese spice shops, same as you always should. (Whoever
wrote that assertion that "none has been found locally" probably just needed
to write a story. That's different from needing to cook.)

To my knowledge, there has never been a shortage of Szechuan
pepper in the San Francisco Bay Area. I think I can buy it
at my neighborhood green grocer's! I should look more
closely at those packaged spices behind the counter next
time I'm there.

BTW: Don't you get irked about the sloppy writing that
appears daily in the newspaper? Stories like the one above
(obviously written by a noncooking ignoramus), big stories
on important news that leaves out crutial information which
might lead to actual comprehension by the reader, etc.

Today's paper had a small article about a visiting dance
troup from Smokey Mountain in Manila. It was accompanied by
a picture almost as large as the article... which showed the
backs of pretty girls in pretty costumes - walking. It
looked like one of those "ooops" shots we all make and throw
away. What was the editor thinking? Was the editor even
thinking at all?

The paper also had a letter to the editor about NCLB, the
fact that 95% of students are required to be tested and then
it talked about parents being pressured to "opt out" to
improve school test scores. WHAT??? Schools are doing
their best to have students IN SCHOOL during the testing
period, not the other way around - and that includes the
most severe special education students. Again, what was the
editor thinking??? Print something that makes sense, don't
just try to fill up white space.

It's getting to the point where I don't even like to read
the "news"paper, because it makes me so mad.

sf

"sf" wrote...

Quoted message said:

<maxR wrote:

"notbob" :

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yesterday's San Jose Mercury food section had an article
about the imminent return of Szechuan pepper to the US.
... The article went on to say that although none
has been found locally, Draeger's is hot on the trail.

Jeez. I could say something about that but I won't. Draeger's indeed.
Look for it in Chinese spice shops, same as you always should. (Whoever
wrote that assertion that "none has been found locally" probably just
needed
to write a story. That's different from needing to cook.)

To my knowledge, there has never been a shortage of Szechuan
pepper in the San Francisco Bay Area. I think I can buy it
at my neighborhood green grocer's! I should look more
closely at those packaged spices behind the counter next
time I'm there.

Sorry, sf, but Szechauan pepper is a major part of my spice cabinet, and
it's been a major loss. I don't know what your neighborhood green grocer
has but ... not anything good. It's been banned from the USA for a several
years because of the cancor.

Szechauan pepper is what brought me back to the group after many years---I
couldn't get it ... and still can't get it. I NEED it for a wonderful
stuffed Asian/Chinese eggplant dish that I first tasted in the east in 1970,
and learned to make.

We truly miss that dish. Actually, you all can make the dish, but the
Szechauan pepper mixed with salt as a condiment makes it. I first ate this
dish in a Chinese restaurant on Okinawa, early 1970's (btw, Okinawa got a
major influx of Chinese after the 1948 revolution, probably secondary only
to Taiwan).

STUFFED EGGPLANT (Chinese) 4 - 8 servings

1/2 lb ground pork

6 large dried shrimp, soaked in 2 Tbsp hot water for 30 minutes, then
drained and finely chopped

1 green onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp pepper

3 - 4 Asian eggplants (short white and purple) or 2 Japanese eggplants
(skinny aubergines) - sliced to create sandwiches to stuff (European fatto
eggplants won't work because you need the skin)

Beer batter (see below) or other light batter

2 c. peanut oil

Combine filling ingredients until meat holds together. Stuff eggplant
slices, dip in batter, and deep fry in 350°F oil until brown - about 2
minutes on a side. Serve with spiced salt/pepper (Penzey's Sichuan
pepper-salt is perfect).

Ed Grabau and Pam Jacoby said:

Sorry, sf, but Szechauan pepper is a major part of my spice cabinet,
and it's been a major loss. I don't know what your neighborhood
green grocer has but ... not anything good. It's been banned from
the USA for a several years because of the cancor.

Szechauan pepper is what brought me back to the group after many
years---I couldn't get it ... and still can't get it. I NEED it for
a wonderful stuffed Asian/Chinese eggplant dish that I first tasted
in the east in 1970, and learned to make.

I posted a bunch of links to afa a few months back, where one could
currently get Szechuan peppercorns through mail order. Here's a repeat of
that post (copied and pasted from google)
----begin paste----

You must have missed http://tinyurl.com/5ugcf . They've had them for a few
months, now. FWIW, the ban has been revised (in January, no less) to allow
heat-treated peppercorns on the market in the US. If the tinyurl link
doesn't work, the homepage is www.adrianascaravan.com (range in price,
depending on size of bag). Just do a search for "Szechuan peppercorns."
Another option is www.buffalocreekspices.com . It's under "Peppercorns,
Whole Sichuan" and is $8/lb. A third option is
http://www.thecmccompany.com/chin.htm but it's $5.95/2 oz there.

I have no experience with the above companies and cannot, personally,
recommend them. I got the information from the good folks on e-Gullet and
their 12-page thread on Sichuan Peppercorns. Several people there
recommend, and have purchased from, both CMC and Buffalo Creek, btw.

-----end paste-----

FWIW, I bought a huge (for me) bag of them at the wholesale food market in
Chinatown in Bangkok. Very fresh, very pungent--smelling, at least!
Haven't cooked with them, yet.

rona
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