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Minor nit: Sichuan pepper is not a chili pepper or closely related to black pepper. It's the husk of the fruit of a tree that grows in the region. It's not part
by twalla 4y ago
Minor nit: Sichuan pepper is not a chili pepper or closely related to black pepper. It's the husk of the fruit of a tree that grows in the region. It's not particularly spicy on its own - the appeal is the numbing, tingling sensation (called málà, literally numbing spiciness) which serves as a complement to the capsaicin-based spiciness that Sichuanese cuisine is known for.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y agoIs the numbing sensation similar to that of cloves?
- ch4s3 4y agoSort of, but not exactly. Cloves contain eugenol which can act as a mild anesthetic. Sichuan peppers contain hydroxy-alpha-sanshool another organic alcohol that is pretty different chemically, I think.
- krispyfi 4y ago"Sanshool" is the Japanese word for a related pepper ("山椒", "sanshō"), combined with the "-ol" (alcohol) suffix.
- wil421 4y agoNo it’s more slightly numbing with some kind of electricity or bubbly (Effervescent) feeling.
- tintedfireglass 4y agocloves are sweet right? cloves have a pleasant taste and they don't taste "spicy" at all. I occasionally chew some cloves as a mouth freshener and I don't feel any overwhelming spicy-ness like black pepper or chilli pepper
- giraffe_lady 4y agoSichuan peppers are also not spicy at all. They have an intense herbal/mineral/fruity flavor that's hard to find comparisons for but it is nothing like the "heat" you get from any other foods considered hot like chili pepper, black pepper, ginger, raw garlic, etc.
- Markoff 4y agono, it's causing your lips to buzz as if electricity is flowing through them
- lofatdairy 4y agoEven more minor nit: ma2la4 is actually the combination of flavors of both numbness (ma2, 麻) and spiciness (la4, 辣). The latter is commonly used outside the combined descriptor to signify normal capsaicin spice in food. Off topic, but the "ma" in mapo tofu also uses same character from ma2la4, but also serves to give a visual description of the dish. That character is also used to refer to a pockmarked person, and the po2 is from one of the various ways to refer to grandmother. You could probably go as far to say it's something of a pun.
- angrais 4y agoAny reason why your Pinyin is written in ASCII and not unicode (as OP)?
- lofatdairy 4y agoHonestly I could've just copied and pasted it but I'm used to just typing the numbers since I didn't learn the alt keybindings on my keyboard.
- thaumasiotes 4y ago> spiciness (la4, 辣). The latter is commonly used outside the combined descriptor to signify normal capsaicin spice in food. True, but it isn't restricted to that; it also describes the taste of garlic. (Whereas in English, I would never describe garlic or onions as "hot". If I needed a descriptor, I'd call them "sharp".)
- paraph1n 4y agoActually it's quite normal in American English to describe garlic as hot or spicy, especially raw garlic.
- thaumasiotes 4y agoMaybe somewhere, but it's not a usage I've encountered. Chilis are described as hot; garlic is usually just described as "garlic".
- silicon2401 4y agoThanks for explaining that. I always wondered how sichuan pepper could cause such a different reaction to regular black or chili pepper, and now it makes sense