But, Zhao says, for cooks inexperienced in cooking with Szechuan pepper, the pantry ingredients were intimidating. “Most Americans, they don’t know what to do with Szechuan pepper,” he explains.

Sichuan pepper isn’t a chile or even a peppercorn. It is the small berry of a tree in the same family as citrus. Some markets and neighborhood shops sell Sichuan peppers.

Whereas ordinary peppercorns grow on vines, Sichuan peppers are berries of the prickly-ash tree and part of the citrus family. They come in red and green varieties; the red has an earthily floral ...

The Sichuan pepper tree’s thorns are a first sign of caution. While the heat of some spices can burn, Sichuan pepper numbs. Harold McGee compares the tingling to licking a nine-volt battery in ...

The famous Sichuan peppercorn that gives dishes like kung pao chicken their distinctive flavour, isn't actually pepper at all. It's a dried red berry from the prickly ash tree and it isn't even ...

The Sichuan peppercorns in this recipe are not like the black peppercorns you may find in a traditional pepper mill. Instead, they are the seed husks from a citrus tree.