Collection: Szechuan<tc>peppers</tc> from all corners of the world

Zanthoxylum is the Yellowwood genus, a plant genus known not only for its beautiful yellow wood, but especially for the Szechuan pepper, to which Chinese Szechuan cuisine owes its spicy reputation.

The term Szechuan pepper is used for the pepper berries cultivated in China, even though they do not originate from Szechuan itself, but also for the berries that grow elsewhere, as well as the berries of other members of this plant genus, some of which are also used culinarily.

All plants—shrubs and trees—in the genus Zanthoxylum have in common that they are richly covered with 'spines'. Some species even have leaves on which spines grow. On the stem, the spines are often woody and corky, sometimes of enormous size, and not sharp at all, but on the branches they are vicious, making harvesting the berries quite a challenge.

The ambiguous name toothache tree owes the plants based on the combination of the external relationship of the spines on the trunk to molars, and to the fact that the berries are traditionally used as an anesthetic, including for toothache, and are also incorporated into toothpaste.

Below are the types of which we the dried sell berries in our shop. For each variety, we provide the Chinese name where available:

Zanthoxylum acantapodium - andaliman - 毛剌花椒 máo là huā jiāo

Zanthoxylum armatum - raye timur - 刺花椒 cì huā jiāoma

Zanthoxylum piperitum - sanshō - 日本花椒 rìběn huājiāo - expiring product!

Zanthoxylum bungeanum - flower pepper - 花椒 huājiāo

Zanthoxylum rhetsa/limonella - (Indian) mountain pepper - 胡椒木 hújiāo mù

Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides - igi ata or bakumba pepper

Indian mountain pepper is better known by the name ma khaen, mac khen or trpihal, respectively in Laos, Vietnam, and India.