Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a condiment used in our daily cooking, and its quality is directly related to the taste of the dishes. Like wolfberries and other fruits, Zanthoxylum bungeanum also has high and low quality, and the taste of Zanthoxylum bungeanum of different qualities is quite different. There is a Zanthoxylum bungeanum tree in front of my house. During the picking season, we let it fall freely because it has the appearance of Zanthoxylum bungeanum but lacks the numbing aroma of Zanthoxylum bungeanum. It has no smell when you put it in a handful.

You may have this experience. You grabbed a handful of Sichuan peppercorns and put them into the oil pan, hoping to fry the Sichuan peppercorns oil, but the numbing aroma of the Sichuan peppercorns just couldn’t come out. It’s not that you don’t know how to fry it, it’s just that the peppercorns you bought are not good enough.

So, how to choose good peppercorns? The first is the place of origin. A place’s water and soil support its people and create its products. For example, Sichuan peppercorns and Dahongpao from Sichuan are very good and are the first choice of chefs. However, even Dahongpao in Hanyuan, Sichuan, also has levels.

During the pepper picking season, the picking is done in batches. The first batch of selected Sichuan peppercorns have plump grains, all the peppercorns are open, no peppercorn seeds, and have the characteristics of 2 to 3 Sichuan peppercorns connected together, just like plum blossoms, which is what we often call "plum blossom petal peppercorns".

Plum blossom petal pepper accounts for more than 80%, and it has no stems. This kind of pepper is the "top product". Maybe it’s because the plum peppers absorb more nutrients. The taste is indeed better than that of individual peppercorns. Put one in your mouth and bite it, it will make your mouth numb for a long time.

After selecting the first-class products, we next need to select the second-class products. Compared with the first-class products, the proportion of plum petals and peppercorns is only about 40%. If you can find this in the market, it’s pretty good. The rest are the most inferior individual "tail goods". The particles are small and the color is not bright. Some of them can't even open their mouths. There are almost no plum petals visible. The numbing aroma is far inferior to the first-class Sichuan peppercorns.

Having said this, you understand why the peppercorn flavor of your fried vegetables is not strong.

In the Taihang Mountains at the junction of Henan and Shanxi, the Zanthoxylum bungeanum produced there is also good. I go there every year to buy Zanthoxylum bungeanum. When the picking season comes, the Zanthoxylum bungeanum trees are blazing red. The growers Choose a sunny day to start picking. The picked peppers cannot be covered. They must be exposed in the sun for a day so that the color of the peppers will look good. If it encounters continuous cloudy days, the peppers will be dark red in color, and their appearance and taste will be compromised. .