. . just labeled "Dried Pepper" They've been illegal to import into the U.S. for a couple years, but can now be brought in if they've been heat treated to 140°F which may or may not degrade potency - opinions seemed to be without evidence last I checked.

The heat treatment is supposed to turn them beige but these are distinctly reddish. I munched a couple to check potency, and if they were much more potent you'd need to wear a hazmat suit to handle them. Took my mouth about 10 minutes to recover.

They're not actually peppercorns, they're tiny citrus fruits (well Rue fruits anyway, citrus are members of the Rue family). That's where the problem came in, they were suspected of being able to carry citrus canker - unproven as far as I know.

[image|http://www.clovegarden.com/ajg/sp_szechuan01.jpg||||]

. . and cause a rash, but they are not generally found packaged as a spice.

The berries are probably not intensely flavored and are eaten by birds and other animals. The toxin actually triggers an alergy in humans that most animals are immune to.

Poison Ivy is related to Cashews (parts are highly toxic), Mangos (not generally toxic) and Sumac. The berries of some Near Eastern varieties of sumac are used as a souring agent similar to lemon but American varieties contain the alergin.

. . under magnification. And of course it was mislabled - Sichuan peppercorns always are - ever since the Feds started messing around with them. These packages were labled "dried pepper" and racked with the chilis. If I hadn't been looking for them specifically I'd have never seen them.

. . toothache potions, though not for cooking. Haven't seen any so I can't say how it compares to the Chinese for flavor. Anyway, I can now vouch for the anesthetic effect firsthand.


These fruits are considered essential to Sichuan (formerly Szechuan) and Hunan cooking and are an essential ingredient in a proper Chinese 5 spices powder (though I notice many commercial versions omit it).