Szechuan Pepper Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Szechuan Pepper (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) is the Chinese prickly ash, hua jiao, a small deciduous tree of the citrus family, Rutaceae, native to central and western China and cultivated chiefly in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. It grows 3 to 7 meters with thorny branches and pinnate leaves of glossy, toothed leaflets dotted with oil glands. Small greenish-yellow flowers are followed by clusters of reddish-brown, warty fruit that split open to drop a shiny black seed, leaving the fragrant husk, which produces the numbing, tingling sensation of Sichuan cooking. We extract the dried fruit husks.