Sichuan Peppercorns

They are reddish-brown in colour with a strong, pungent odour that distinguishes them from the hotter black peppercorns with which they may be used interchangeably. Not related to peppers at all, they are the dried berries of a shrub that is a member of the prickly ash tree known as fargara. Their smell reminds me of lavender, while their taste is sharp and slightly numbing to the tongue, with a clean lemon-wood spiciness and fragrance. It is not the peppercorns that make Sichuan cooking so hot, but the use of chilli pepper.