Despite its name sansho pepper is not actually a pepper. I guess you might call it a spice with some peculiar traits. It’s earthy and tangy with a bit of lemon. When put directly on your tongue, you’ll notice a sort of tingling sensation.
Sansho pepper is usually sold ground, but you can also buy the berries and grind it yourself. It’s typically used on grilled foods like yakitori (chicken) or eel.
The sansho or prickly ash tree also yields the fragrant kinome leaves - which are often used as a garnish.
Where can I buy the whole sansho pepper berries? All I’ve been able to find is ground.
Sansho pepper is also called Szechuan pepper. Try asking for whole Szechuan Peppercorns at a Chinese or Asian grocery store.
Penzeys Spices seems to carry these as well , here is the link:
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysszechuanpeppercorns.html
You can also buy a 12 gram bottle of S&B sansho pepper from Amazon for about $5 bucks.
[...] recipe for salad dressing is simple: rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, and sansho (a Japanese spice that has a bit of a lemony flavor and is available at almost all Asian markets), [...]
[...] so be careful when adding it to dishes. The inclusion of citrus and the almost citrusy tasting Sansho pepper give it a nice [...]