Mac khen - Vietnamese mountainpepper

This mountainpepper, which is called triphal in India and ma khaen in Laos, comes from the mountainous north of Vietnam. The pepper it grows exclusively in the wild.

Mac khen is a Szechuan, just like ma khaenpepper, with a gently tingling sharpness and the unmistakable citrus flavor 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 extending from India to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, including Vietnam. The tree grows there up to an altitude of 1,500 meters in moist, dense forests. On average, for a tree, it bears fruit for the first time when it is 5 to 6 years old, and yields 5 kg of seeds.

The pepper is in the mountainous Tây Bắc collected, the northwestern region with the provinces of Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Sơn La and Hòa Bình. It work is mainly by women belonging to the Thai and Hmong minorities.

This mountainpepper is the berry of a Szechuan found exclusively in the wildpepperThe berry comes from Zanthoxylum rhetsa, also known as Zanthoxylum limonella. The pepper is famous for its flavor profile, not so much for its sharpness, as you would expect from a Szechuanpepper would expect.

The berry is quite small, just like the berry of the andaliman, and, like the andaliman, is harvested by hand. This is no easy task, as the trunk and branches of the Zanthoxylum rhetsa have vicious thorns. The berries grow in smaller clusters, which are dismantled to pry the berries loose; when dried, they manifest as 'mini-star anise'. Each berry contains a single seed.

The pepper It grows in northern Laos, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, and India, where it is also found in the Western Ghats. It is even part of the regional cuisines of Karnataka, known as the birthplace of black pepper.

The unique sharpness experience of sanshool

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 numbing sensation, jokingly compared to tasting a 9-volt battery. A single berry is enough to experience this! This somatosensation, 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 caused by 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 taste orange peel and tea, but also anise and menthol, and the sweet notes of angelica. The scent is related to that of black berries. 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), sweetish orange 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 is therefore delicious in combination with the aforementioned spices, and in general with products that pair well with citrus, such as shellfish, white fish, White meat, but also other types of meat and duck. 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. Tirphal is used there mainly in fish dishes, just as in Vietnam, where the mountainpepper Eat with grilled fish, grilled or dried meat, and smoked buffalo meat. Sometimes the meat is rubbed with ground berg.pepper (rub) to preserve the meat.

Explanation

This Zanthoxylum pepper we have imported from Vietnam for many years and under the name Lai Châu offered, with that the drowned city Lai Châu erend. Now that we also offer the Laotian ma khaen in the shop, we have chosen to use the same name, but in Vietnamese.

Usage

Roast the whole fruits. Crush the fruits 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 are roasted until crisp beforehand. In Vietnam, they use this mound.pepper I like it as a rub for roasted meat.

Features:

• 100% berries of the Zanthoxylum rhetsa
  
• origin: Tây Bắc, Việt Nam

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

• Mac Khen is a versatile Szechuanpepper, used both raw and roasted
  

Save:

• store your mac khen pepper in sealed packaging
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• best before December 2027 (12-2027)
• This expiration date is an indication.

Would you like to know how this mak khen pepper tastes good?

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

Would you like to know how Mac khen tastes?

Try a test tube. The tube contains sufficient pepper to fathom the essence of the taste.

Batch number

The batch number helps us trace from which supply a