We usually grow herbs at home outside the window or in the garden, but have you ever tried to grow such a rare spice as Szechuan pepper? Probably not, although it’s not that complicated.
Sichuan pepper, as is clear from its name, comes from the Chinese province of Sichuan, but if we wanted to compare it with pepper that we normally buy in stores, we would come across big differences.
The Chinese even use it to a large extent to flavor green tea, but it is also used in many classic meat recipes, to which it gives the taste of pepper without the classic hot taste. This can be an interesting change in our kitchen.
How to grow and where to use Szechuan pepper will be revealed in a YouTube video from Our Deer:
Source: Youtube
Grow it at home
If you are interested in Szechuan pepper, you may be happy to know that you can grow it yourself at home, and even relatively easily. All you have to do is find a plant of the Zanthoxylum piperitum tree (which is easily available), otherwise also known as yellow pepper tree.
In its Asian homeland, i.e. in China, Japan or Korea, it reaches a height of around three meters, but in our country it is mostly grown in the form of bonsai, which also fits in the living room.
Sun and adequate humidity
In domestic conditions, the sapling will need a sunny place, one where the sun’s rays fall directly. Although he puts up with partial shade, it is still true that the sun is a life-giving quantity for him. While it only requires moderate watering, it does not tolerate drought or dry air, so it is a good idea to leave a sprayer next to the flowerpot and, whenever you remember, lightly mist the leaves of the small plant.
Give him phosphorus
In the spring and summer, also give him a phosphorus fertilizer twice a month. In order for the plant to thrive well, learn to “prune” it. Simply always remove any drying twigs in the spring, and after flowering in early fall, you can trim the yellowwood a little more to maintain its desired shape and size.
Play bees
We already know how to grow a tree, or rather we know how to do it. Now it will still be necessary to offer him conditions for the production of fruits. It will not be so easy, because at home we will have to replace the task of bees and pollinate small flowers with a fine brush.
Our reward will be red berries, which we will harvest in the autumn months and either dry their packaging for use in the kitchen, or thanks to the seeds we obtain in this way, we can grow more and more yellowwood trees, which will make us happy and bear fruit for our family and neighbors.
After all, both of these uses can be combined. How to do it? The seeds must first come to the cold for two months (preferably in the refrigerator), which will simulate the winter season for them. Only then will they be willing to germinate.
In sauces, with meat and in salads
We have the plant, we have the first harvest, so we should also know how to best use such Szechuan pepper. Try it like in its country of origin. Even if you probably won’t make pepper tea, add it to roast meat, to a sauce or perhaps to a salad.
You don’t have to be afraid of a pungent taste, we already know from the previous paragraphs that nothing like that awaits us, except for a possible mild tingling of the tongue. It does not belong to the true peppers, but to the tubular family, which also includes, for example, citrus.
Why is it so expensive?
That being said, it’s a spice worth its weight in gold. Why? This is due to its difficult harvest, which has to be done by hand, even with the risk of injury, because this plant has unpleasantly thorny branches. In addition, only the husks are used as a spice because the seeds themselves have a bitter taste.
Sources: www.chytrazena.cz, magazin.aktualne.cz
