ANCHERY DRUGS Mullilam, Zanthoxylum Piperitum, Sichuan Peppercorns

MULLILAM (Sichuan Peppercorns)
For starters, they’re not actually peppers. Unlike the red chiles that are also ubiquitous to Sichuan cooking, these petite “peppercorns” are actually the berries of the prickly ash tree, which is a member of the citrus family. Harvested only once a year in the late summer, these tiny bumpy fruits are painstakingly picked from their thorny branches by hand and laid out to dry naturally in the heat of the sun. As they dry out, the berries open up into a distinctive floral shape that earned the spice it’s local nickname hua jiao, or “flower pepper.” After open dried husks release their small black seeds, which are bitter and inedible, the fragrant peppercorns are hand-processed to ensure no thorns, seeds, or twigs make it into the batch. It’s a labor-intensive process, but clearly a labor of love. The fruit is aromatic, stimulant, astringent, stomachic and digestive; It is prescribed for urinary diseases, dyspepsia, diarrhoea and with honey in rheumatism. The seed oil is antiseptic and disinfectant; applied to inflammatory dermatosis.