Fuchsia Dunlop

Which nursery? I assume it’s not Battersea Homebase.

I attended a demo by a Sichuanese chef in Dublin (he made awesome dandan mian for us at the Chester Beatty library). He said that there are prickly ash trees in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin city centre but that when he tried, he could not get any anything useful from their fruit.

I believe Mark Diacono’s “A Taste of the Unexpected” has advice on how to grow Sichuan Pepper in the UK. Yet to try it myself…

A nursery here in Oregon that sells the plant says that it’s dioecious–in other words, each individual bears only male or female flowers, and you need both sexes to produce the peppercorns.

Gosh Tom, does that mean I’ll have to arrange hot dates for my plant when it’s a little more mature? I could put an ad in a lonely hearts column… Perhaps there are other Sichuan pepper trees in the same predicament, stranded a long way from the hills of Hanyuan, desperately seeking compatible foliage for an urgent, intense exchange of pollen?

Fuchsia–it’s entirely possible! There’s nothing sadder than a lonely Sichuan pepper tree!

You’re right Ben – Mark Diacono does cover it in his book. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/13/szechuan-pepper-chinese-five-spice

I am trying to grow from seed, but I think they need stratification (a good frost or some time in the fridge) before they’ll comply. For plants, search for Zanthoxylum schinifolium. There are nurseries in the UK that grow and supply it, but many are out of stock. I blame Fuchsia.

I tasted fresh Sichuan peppercorns at a botanical garden in Limoux, France last year and they were intense – the citrus-like flavour was more pronounced and the numbing was medical grade anaesthesia. You can buy green Sichuan peppercorn oil, labelled as Rattan Chilli Oil – a 50:50 blend of rapeseed oil and fresh Sichuan peppercorns – at some Chinese supermarkets in the UK now. It’s potent stuff.

Mark mentions them in the latest food programme, he has like a forest of them it seems. You’ll need at least three I think. He sells them btw http://www.otterfarmshop.co.uk/ I tried to grow them from seed, one came up but died. Seeds need cold stratification (pop them in the freezer…) Did manage to grow Jujubes from seed. As with normal hot peppers you can also use the leaves in recipes so even without seeds they are still usefull.

I have a Sichuan peppercorn tree in my yard here in the SF Bay Area, and it grows fast and bears the peppercorns like a trouper. It was given to me by a fellow mala lover who grows his from the seeds, and it definitely is self-pollinating. Besides, if you grow these thorny guys yourself, you also get to enjoy the tender leaves in spring. (I wrote about this on my blog: http://carolynjphillips.blogspot.com/search/label/Sichuan%20peppercorns.) Hope this helps… and good luck!

Does anyone know of US sources for seed or plants?

I’ve tried to grow them from seed found in asian shop without succes, maybe they had been irradiated

Anyway, good luck fushia with your little tree, keep it green !

You can buy plants from Crug Farm Plants in Wales http://mailorder.crug-farm.co.uk/default.aspx?pid=11504

I have been trying to buy a plant from Mark Diacono since March. Despite them being on his shop website he says he does not have any at present.

Well, just to add to the confusion, two weeks ago, I bought the Szechuan pepper plant froma reputabl nursery. I bought a nice one with the peppers on it so that would be a female. But, they weren’t able to tell me which were the male plant as they didn’t have a lot remaining and I didn’t want to take my chances. Just this morning, I went to my favourite vendor at the Farmer’s Market in Lake Oswego, and this is what he told me. He says the plant actually has both male and female in it. If we get only one that has the berries already, it will self-pollinate again, but takes like two years before you see any fruits. If you have more than one, preferably three, the chances of getting pollinated increases and thus, you will get berries faster and more. So, hopefully, he is right and I shall let everyone know two years from now.

Chris. Possibly not. When I was reading up on them I learned that the seeds don’t stay viable very long. I got some from a seed company here in Canada, and two of them sprouted just fine. I’ll try to dig up the name.

Here you go…
This isn’t the greenhouse I got my seed from, but it is the same stuff – simulans though, not piperitum.

http://www.plantexplorers.com/vandusen/product_info.php/products_id/469

Seed needs to be sown fresh in the autumn and allowed to experience a number of freezing episodes over the winter. Protect from voles. Z. simulans (syn. schnifolium) are self-fertile in my experience. Z. piperitum is dioecious. We have plants for sale.

I am interested in buying plants Paul

I have been around this ingredient all my life and just started to research this plant. My mom said it grows wild in Iowa. Might have to make a trip up there to confirm.