Szechuan Pepper Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Szechuan Pepper here is the flatspine prickly ash (Zanthoxylum simulans), a spiny shrub or small tree of the citrus family, Rutaceae, native to eastern China and Taiwan, where it grows on hillsides and in thickets and is one of the two main sources of hua jiao. It reaches 3 to 5 meters with flattened, broad-based spines along the stems and pinnate leaves of five to eleven leathery leaflets with citrus-scented oil glands. The reddish, warty fruit husks split to release black seeds and carry the same lemony, mouth-numbing character as Zanthoxylum bungeanum. We extract the dried fruit husks.