Ma khaen - Laotian mountainpepper

This mountainpepper, which is called ma khaen in Laos, grows in the wild in the mountainous Luang Prabang, in the northern Laos.

Unfortunately, no longer available. The North Vietnamese mountain is in stock, however.pepper Mac khen, as the name suggests, same plant, same berry, just a different region.

The pepper It is primarily collected by women and is an important source of income. In the Luang Prabang region, ma khaen is the fifth most important non-timber forest product according to FAO data. For a long time, the shrubs were cut down in their entirety to harvest the berries; nowadays, harvesting takes place sustainably, without deforestation.

This mountainpepper is the berry of a Szechuan found exclusively in the wildpepper, or actually peppersThe berry actually comes from the Zanthoxylum rhetsa or the Zanthoxylum limonella. It is famous for its flavor profile, not so much for its sharpness, as you would expect from a Szechuan.pepper would expect.

He has a gently tingling sharpness and the unmistakable citrus flavor (mandarin) that becomes stronger and sweeter when the pepper is heated. The tree to which this pepper grows, is the Indian mountainpepper or in Indian, triphal, which grows naturally in an area called the Indamalaya, the ecozone that extends from India to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, including Vietnam. The tree grows there up to an altitude of 1,500 meters in humid, dense forests.

The berry is quite small, just like the andaliman berry, and, like the andaliman, is harvested by hand. No easy task, as the branches of the Zanthoxylum have vicious thorns. The berries grow in smaller clusters that, when dried, appear as 'mini-star anise'. Each berry contains a single seed.

The unique sharpness experience of sanshol

Characteristic of all Zanthoxylumpeppers, and therefore also for the Szechuanpepper is the tingling you experience on the tip of your tongue caused by a substance in the pepper which is called sanshool, named after the Japanese sanshō. The pungency is caused by the amides in the skin of the fruit: α-, β-, γ- and δ-sanshool, α-hydroxy sanshool and β-hydroxy sanshool. γ-sanshool and α-hydroxy sanshool are primarily responsible for the narcotic effect. The amount of α-hydroxy sanshool in the berries can reach (well over) 50‰ of the dry weight, while that of γ-sanshool is around 5‰.

The tingling is accompanied by a mild numbness, jokingly compared to tasting a 9-volt battery. A single berry is enough to experience this! This somato-sensation, stimulation by touch, has been used for centuries as an anesthetic in traditional Asian medicine. Its mechanism of action is very complex and the subject of extensive studies. Hydroxy-α-sanshol, in particular, is thought to cause the tingling, and there are certain parallels with the sensation of sharpness from capsaicin, the pungent substance in chili.pepper, but also with menthol and mustard oil.

Scent and taste

The berries have a complex aroma, in which you tastes of mandarin peel and tea, but also anise and menthol, and the sweet notes of angelica. The scent is related to that of black pepper due to the high content of sabinene, which is higher in the dried berry than in the fresh one.This is the flavor profile:

• D-limonene (dipentene), sweet citrus flavor, occurring in modest amounts in nutmeg, mace, and cardamom,
• β-phellandrene, pleasant mint and citrus flavor, also found in allspice,
• β-pinene, woody pine scent, as in cumin, pine (pine cone), juniper and hemp,
• sabinene, responsible for the woody, camphor-like flavor of black pepper
• carvotan acetone, likewise minty, as in angelica.
• dihydrocarbon as in black pepper and black tea, and
• the bitter terpinol, - occurring especially in the seeds - as in cranberries.

This pepper It is therefore delicious in combination with the aforementioned spices, and in general with products that pair well with citrus, such as shellfish, white fish, salmon, white butter sauces, veal, pork, and duck. It can be eaten raw and added at the last moment, and is delicious in vegetable salads, desserts, or with fruit.

In India, people prefer to pepper which triphal (Marathi) or triphala (Gujarati) is called to be used 'pure', that is to say not in combination with other spices. Triphal is used there mainly in fish dishes, just as in Vietnam, where the mountainpepper eat with grilled fish, with grilled or dried meat, and with smoked buffalo meat. Sometimes meat is rubbed with ground berg.pepper to extend the shelf life of the meat.

Usage

Roast the whole berries. Crush the berries to release the seeds. It is best to use a mortar and pestle for these, while the seed husks are best ground. The same applies to the whole berries (with seeds), provided they were roasted until crisp beforehand.

Features:

• 100% berries of the Zanthoxylum rhetsa
• origin: Luang Prabang, Laos
  

Assortment

• available in glass (30 grams), stand-up pouch and test tube (10 ml)
• Larger quantities on request

Gift packaging

• The jar is available in tasteful gift packaging, consisting of a cube box filled with black tissue paper.
• For an overview of our gift packaging, please refer to the gift packaging section.

General advice

• ma khaen is a versatile Szechuanpepper, used both raw and roasted.
  

Save:

• save your pepper in sealed packaging
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• best before - - -
• This expiration date is an indication.

Do you want to know how Ma khaen smaakt ?

You can also try a test tube. The tube contains sufficient pepper to fathom the essence of the taste.

Batch number

The batch number helps us trace which supply an item originated from. It is listed on the packing slip and the invoice.