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.
Phil
March 15, 2013 High on Spice: 4 Kinds of Sichuan Peppercorns to Try – See more at:
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2013/03/high-on-spice-4-kinds-of-sichuan-peppercorns-to-try.html
Phil
Not true, Sansho turns red when it ripens.
English video from NHK Japan
World Warms to Japanese Spice
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20160526114849819/
Robin S
I would not touch these peppers ever again! After tasting about 1/2 of
a peppercorn size of this, my throat closed up, could not breathe, had
immediate severe allergic reaction. Thought I was going to die for about
a minute! Beware of this pepper !!!!
KAREN MANASCO
As of this posting, 11-14-2013, the whole Sansho pepper is back in stock at Spice House.
http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/japanese-green-sansho-pepper-whole-or-ground
Toby H
I thought Sansho pepper and Szechuan pepper although similar is slight difference. Szechuan pepper is red color whereas Sansho pepper is green peppercorns. Taste probably very similar but souschef sells them as different varieties.
Kouj
How stable is this pepper? I have a very tight jar of this given to me some years ago. The powdered product looks uniform and runs freely.
benjamin
Like most spices, the flavors tend to get flatter as time goes and if it’s older than a year it’s probably best to buy something fresher.
Talbot
I’ve been frustrated in my efforts to find the whole peppercorns as well. I just picked up my first jar of the ground version though, and it’s very flavorful and has the same tingling effect. It’s just a bit inconvenient for certain purposes.
TheSpiceHouse.com(based in the US) sells them in whole form if you want to send away for them, but I’m not about to hassle with that.
reiko adams
I just came back from the parson who has a quite large Sansho tree which really amazed me. She also has a lots of Myoga and an Ume tree which produces very large Ume. I guess her soil must be well fit for those.
sushi stu
If you’re in Europe you can get it from
http://www.sushisushi.co.uk/store/gbu0-catshow/japanese_spices.html
bsmith
Sansho pepper is similar to 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.
Mark Beveridge
Where can I buy the whole sansho pepper berries? All I’ve been able to find is ground.