Quote Originally Posted by smilingcat View Post
Well for consolation I do have sansho trees. They were illegal up untill 2005 to grow here in the states.

I think you'll really love the ground sansho pepper. Nothing like it. Bit of sharpness like ginger but not as strong. it is very aromatic, intoxicating-ly refreshing scent similar to citrus scent yet very different. SPICE hmmm sounding lot like Sci Fi novel "Dune".
I think I was first familiarized with it as "Sezchuan pepper". I used to work with some people from China and people in the company traveled back and forth a lot. One of the Chinese employees brought some back once (I think it was still illegal at the time! - apparently because of the possibility of spreading a tree disease). She said that all the Sezchuan food in the states was just wrong because they couldn't get the pepper. Now I can get it locally. It is very interesting. It kind of numbs your tongue a bit. The aroma is amazing. I have it in a spice grinder like regular pepper and grind my own.