Sansho Pepper - Lightning strike

What is Bhutanese sansho pepper?

Bhutanese sansho pepper is a spice very similar to Japanese sansho pepper. However, it differs on one point: its color. While the one that comes from Japan is green, the sansho pepper from Bhutan is browner on the outside. It can also be confused aesthetically with the red Sichuan pepper. While all of these peppers have this name, you should know that they are not actually peppers, but berries. The sansho pepper from Bhutan is an open berry. If I chose to present you this pepper, it is simply because I fell in love with it. Its nose and its flavors are unique and make it an exceptional pepper. You may be tempted to grind it to taste it, I prefer to grind it in a mortar. Bhutanese sansho pepper belongs to the genus Zanthoxylum. As such, it is its pericarp that concentrates the aromatic complexity.

What is the flavor of Bhutanese sansho pepper?

While most of the peppers we have mentioned reveal citrus notes, Bhutanese sansho pepper has a decidedly more lemony taste. As you taste it, you discover notes of lemon caviar, lemongrass and yuzu. It is both fresh and spicy with a slight tingle at the end.

Harvesting Bhutanese Sansho Pepper

The clove tree (Zanthoxylum) flourishes in the highlands of Bhutan, in the Himalayan Mountains. Bhutanese sansho pepper is a rare and wild spice harvested in early summer before being dried in the sun. If during this stage the pericarp splits in two and the seed is removed from this berry.

How to use Bhutanese sansho pepper?

The Bhutanese sansho pepper is a little gustatory wonder with its pronounced lemony notes. To try it is to adopt it, especially since it can be used in all your most daring recipes. Here are a few recipes that can be enhanced by adding a little Bhutanese sansho pepper.

Our recipe ideas with Bhutanese sansho pepper

The starter: mackerel rillettes with Bhutanese Sansho pepper

Fish and lemon, it is not a surprise for anyone, it goes perfectly together. I suggest you make your own mackerel rillettes, it is extremely simple, it is a combination of butter, mackerel, mustard, fresh cream and chives. Add some sansho pepper, and it is a crossing on the most beautiful seas of the globe which awaits you.

The dish: cod back, risotto and sansho pepper

We take it up a notch with a delicious cod back with a homemade risotto. Here, the sansho pepper will intervene in a delicious butter sauce which comes to accompany your cod. Do you know about lemon butter? Well here, you will prepare a butter pepper sansho of which you will tell me news.

Dessert: chocolate cheesecake with Bhutanese sansho pepper

I propose to you to finish your meal in softness and to carry out a cheesecake to which you will add some lemony notes with your pepper of Bhutan. This will bring freshness and a slight spiciness that will counterbalance the strength of the chocolate.

The conservation of the Bhutanese sansho pepper

The Bhutanese sansho pepper should preferably be kept in a dry place away from light.