Sichuan pepper

I went to a Chinese Restaurant today with my roommate.

I opened the menu, and it was split between traditional and Americanized Chinese food. I had never had the real stuff before, so I decided to pick something from the traditional side of the menu.

I figured I would get traditional Kung Pao Chicken. Big mistake.

It was full of what's called "Sichuan Pepper" aka "Chinese Coriander".

This tiny spice is innocuous until you bite into it, at which point it numbs your mouth and blasts your tastebuds with pine sap.

This is thanks to the overabundance of the highly-basic Hydroxy alpha sanshool, pinene and terpene.

If you were wondering where "pinene" gets its name, it comes from pine trees, and it tastes like pine trees.

I have to ask, does anyone like this spice? It totally ruined my chicken ;Д;
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Yumi
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, sounds delicious! Lol It depends if you like spicy foods or not. Seems to me that this wasn't your cup of tea and maybe too traditional? Sichuan is the Southern flavors of China where they add more spices into their foods. Yummy. I think would like it. ^_^
 
x65943
The thing is, when I hear "spicy" I think "hot". But it's not hot in any way. It's just very numbing and has an overpowering pine taste.

The weirdest part though - is that now one day afterwards, I kind of want to eat it again. This is very confusing to me because yesterday the effect was so strange I thought I was having an anaphylactic episode, and I didn't even finish the entire dish.
 
Yumi
Hmm, what else did you have on the side besides the sichuan chicken? I'm sure you ate it with steamed rice no? Oh, and I missed the "numbing" part. That peaks my curiosity a lot more. Maybe adding some vegetables with might help?
 
x65943
The dish had chicken, sichuan peppercorn, peanuts, garlic and ginger. It was served with plain white rice. There was some other vegetable in the dish that I couldn't identify.

Read up about the numbing effect, it is interesting. It does not simply numb - it overstimulates the nerves in your mouth until they cannot feel anymore. It's like an intense vibration followed by lack of feeling.
 
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Yumi
I did read up on it. Lol Oh wow, I hope to find a Chinese restaurant that sells the sichuan foods so I can try it. I have had spicy dishes (Bienvenidos a Mexico) and have yet to experience such feeling.

Thanks for the information. ^_^ Interesting new stuff!
 
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