Sansho
Zanthoxylum piperitum · Spice
Top 10 pairings
Sansho (山椒) is the Japanese prickly-ash, Zanthoxylum piperitum, a thorny citrus-family shrub whose every part is used in the kitchen: the dried, ground berry husks make the fragrant green-brown powder (kona-zanshō) dusted over grilled eel, while its tender spring leaves — the bright "kinome" — are slapped between the palms and laid over soups and simmered dishes. Like its mainland cousin Sichuan pepper, it brings a lemony, minty-floral aroma over a light tongue-tingling numbness.
Picking a good onedrag
Loud lemon-mint, a fine clean buzzGreyed and dusty, no scent, no tingle
Good dried stockEveryday bestThe all-rounder. Mill what you need, sieve the black seed out, and stir it in off the heat: shichimi, miso soups, simmered dishes.
Smell of a crushed huskClear citrus on the crush, greener and quieter, the mint edge gone out of it
The tingleA clear tingle, slower to arrive and quicker to fade
Whole husk or powderWhole husks with the gritty black seed shed loose in the bag, easy enough to sieve off
Colour and drynessBrowner and duller overall, but still warm-toned rather than grey