Zanthoxylum piperitum

Last updated

Zanthoxylum piperitum
Zanthoxylum piperitum.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Zanthoxylum
Species:
Z. piperitum
Binomial name
Zanthoxylum piperitum
(L.) DC

Zanthoxylum piperitum, also known as Japanese pepper or Japanese prickly-ash, is a deciduous aromatic spiny shrub or small tree of the citrus and rue family Rutaceae, native to Japan and Korea.

Contents

It is called sanshō (山椒) in Japan and chopi (초피) in Korea. Both the leaves and fruits (peppercorns) are used as aromatics and flavorings in these countries. It is closely related to the Chinese Sichuan pepper, which comes from plants of the same genus.

Names

"Japanese pepper" Z. piperitum [1] [2] is called sanshō (山椒, 'mountain pepper') in Japan, [3] but the corresponding cognate term in Korean, sancho (산초) refers to a different species, or Z. schinifolium [lower-alpha 1] [4] known as inuzanshō or 'dog sansho' in Japan. [5]

In Korea, Z. piperitum is called chopi (초피). [lower-alpha 2] [4] [6] However, in several regional dialects, notably Gyeongsang dialect, it is also called sancho or jepi (제피).

"Japanese prickly-ash" has been used as the standard American common name. [7] [8]

Varieties

The variety Z. piperitum var. inerme Makino, known in Japan as Asakura zanshō [9] are thornless, or nearly so, and have been widely cultivated for commercial harvesting. [10] [11]

The forma Z. piperitum f. pubsescens (Nakai) W. T. Lee, is called teol chopi (털초피) in Korea, and is assigned the English name "hairy chopi". [4]

Range

Its natural range spans from Hokkaido to Kyushu in Japan, [12] southern parts of the Korean peninsula, [13] and Chinese mainland. [11]

Description

Fruit and seeds Zanthoxylum piperitum Fruits et graines.jpg
Fruit and seeds

The plant belongs to the citrus and rue family, Rutaceae. [14]

The tree blooms in April to May, forming axillary flower clusters, about 5mm, and yellow-green in color. It is dioecious, [15] and the flowers of the male plant can be consumed as hana-sanshō, while the female flowers yield berries or peppercorns of about 5mm. In autumn, these berries ripen, turning scarlet and burst, scattering the black seeds within. [11]

The branch grows pairs of sharp thorns and has odd-epinnately compound leaves, [15] alternately arranged, with 5〜9 pairs of ovate leaflets [15] having crenate (slightly serrated) margins.

It is a host plant for the Japanese indigenous swallowtail butterfly species, the citrus butterfly Papilio xuthus , which has also spread to Hawaii. [16]

Chemical analysis has revealed that the seeds contain remarkably high concentrations of sugar-modified derivatives (glucosides) of N-methylserotonin and N,N-dimethylserotonin, also known as bufotenin. [17]

Cultivation

In Japan, Wakayama Prefecture boasts 80% of domestic production. [18] Aridagawa, Wakayama produces a specialty variety called budō sanshō ('grape sansho'), which bears large fruits and clusters, rather like a bunch of grapes. [18] The thornless variety, Asakura sansho, derives its name from its place of origin, the Asakura district in the now defunct Yokacho  [ ja ], integrated into Yabu, Hyōgo. [13]

Uses

Culinary

The Japanese pepper is closely related to the Sichuan pepper of China, and they share the same genus. [19]

Japanese cuisine

Fresh green Japanese pepper in a supermarket in Japan Japanese pepper at supermarket.jpg
Fresh green Japanese pepper in a supermarket in Japan

The pulverized mature fruits ("peppercorns" or "berries") known as "Japanese pepper" or kona-zanshō (粉ざんしょう) are the standard spice for sprinkling on the kabayaki-unagi (broiled eel) dish. It is also one of the seven main ingredients of the blended spice called shichimi , which also contains red chili peppers. [20] Finely ground Japanese pepper, kona-zanshō, is nowadays usually sold in sealed packets, and individual serving sizes are included inside heat-and-serve broiled eel packages.

Young leaves for sale in Tokyo Zanthoxylum piperitum young bits for sale - Tokyo - April 2 2021.jpeg
Young leaves for sale in Tokyo


Young leaves and shoots, pronounced ki-no-mé [20] or ko-no-mé [11] (木の芽, lit. 'tree bud') herald the spring season, and often garnish grilled fish and soups. They have a distinctive flavor which is not to the liking of everyone. It is a customary ritual to put a leaf between cupped hands, and clap the hands with a popping sound, this supposedly serving to bring out the aroma. [20] The young leaves are crushed and blended with miso using suribachi (mortar) to make a paste, a pesto sauce of sorts, [21] and then used to make various aemono (tossed salad). The stereotypical main ingredient for the resultant kinome-ae is the fresh harvest of bamboo shoots, [22] but the sauce may be tossed (or delicately "folded") into sashimi, clams, squid or other vegetable such as tara-no-me (angelica-tree shoots).

The immature green berries are called ao-zanshō (lit. 'green sansho'), [23] and these may be blanched and salted, [11] or simmered using soy sauce into dark-brown tsukudani , which is eaten as a condiment. [19] The berries are also available as shoyu-zuke, which is just steeped in soy sauce. The berries are also cooked with small fry fish and flavored with soy sauce ( chirimen jako  [ ja ]), a specialty item of Kyoto, since its Mount Kurama outskirts is a renowned growing area of the plant.

There is also a dessert named kirisanshō  [ ja ], rice cake dessert flavored with ground Japanese pepper. It is a specialty in the north. [8]

In central and northeastern Japan, there is also a non-sticky rice-cake type confection called goheimochi , which is basted with miso-based paste and grilled, sometimes using the Japanese pepper as flavor additive to the miso. [24] [25] Also being marketed are sansho flavored arare (rice crackers), [26] [27] snack foods, and sweet sansho-mochi. [28] [29]

Korean cuisine

Chueo-tang (loach soup) served with chopi powder, perilla powder, and garlic chives Chueotang chopi (Zanthoxylum piperitum) deulkkae (Perilla frutescens) buchu (Allium tuberosum).jpg
Chueo-tang (loach soup) served with chopi powder, perilla powder, and garlic chives

Both the plant itself and its fruit (or peppercorn), known as chopi (초피), are called by many names including jepi (제피), jenpi (젠피), jipi (지피), and jopi (조피) in different dialects used in southern parts of Korea, where the plant is extensively cultivated and consumed. [30]

Before the introduction of chili peppers from the New World which led to the creation of the chili paste gochujang, the Koreans used a jang paste spiced with chopi and black peppers. [6]

In Southern Korean cuisine, dried and ground chopi fruit is used as a condiment served with varieties of food, such as chueo-tang (loach soup), maeun-tang (spicy fish stew), and hoe (raw fish).

Young leaves of the plant, called chopi-sun (초피순), are used as a culinary herb or a namul vegetable in Southern Korean cuisine. The leaves are also eaten pickled as jangajji , pan-fried to make buchimgae (pancake), or deep-fried as fritters such as twigak and bugak . Sometimes, chopi leaves are added to anchovy-salt mixture to make herbed fish sauce, called chopi-aekjeot .

Craftwork

In Japan, the thick wood of the tree is traditionally made into a gnarled and rough-hewn wooden pestle (surikogi), to use with suribachi. [19] [10] While sansho wood surikogi are less common today, they impart subtle flavor to foods ground with them. [8]

Folk medicine

Japan

In Japanese pharmaceuticals, the mature husks with seeds removed are considered the crude medicine form of sanshō. It is an ingredient in bitter tincture  [ ja ], and the toso wine served ceremonially. The pungent taste derives from sanshool and sanshoamide. It also contains aromatic oils geraniol, dipentene, citral, etc. [9] [31]

Fishing

In southern parts of Korea, the fruit is traditionally used in fishing. Being poisonous to small fish, a few fruit dropped in a pond make the fish float shortly after.[ citation needed ]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Korea National Arboretum's entry here is "산초 나무 sancho namu", with 나무 meaning "tree, wood".
  2. ↑ Again, the Korea National Arboretum's entry here is "초피 나무 sancho namu", with 나무 meaning "tree".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allspice</span> Pungent fruit of the tree Pimenta dioica

Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry of Pimenta dioica, a midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world. The name allspice was coined as early as 1621 by the English, who valued it as a spice that combined the flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Contrary to common knowledge, it is not a mixture of spices.

<i>Shichimi</i> Japanese spice mix

Shichi-mi tōgarashi, also known as nana-iro tōgarashi or simply shichimi, is a common Japanese spice mixture containing seven ingredients. Tōgarashi is the Japanese name for Capsicum annuum peppers, and it is this ingredient that makes shichimi spicy.

<i>Zanthoxylum</i> Family of shrubs and trees

Zanthoxylum is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type genus of the tribe Zanthoxyleae in the subfamily Rutoideae. Several of the species have yellow heartwood, to which their generic name alludes. Several species are cultivated for their use as spices, notably including Sichuan pepper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dipping sauce</span> Type of sauce

A dip or dip sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, falafel, and sometimes even whole sandwiches in the case of jus. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically placed or dipped into the sauce.

Sanshō may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chili sauce and paste</span> Condiment prepared with chili peppers

Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uzazi</span> West African spice

"Uzazi" is the Nigerian name for the 'prickly ash' tree of genus Zanthoxylum tessmannii / Fagara tessmannii / Zanthoxylum gilletii, a member of the Rutaceae family, native to Central and West Africa, and a close relative of the Sichuan pepper. It usually refers specifically to the spice made from its fruit and pericarp, though sometimes other parts of it such as its leaves are used.

<i>Zanthoxylum ailanthoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, also called ailanthus-like prickly ash, is an Asiatic plant of the prickly-ash genus Zanthoxylum, natively occurring in forest-covered parts of southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan from Honshu southward. The piquant fruit serves as a local substitute for the ordinary red-pepper in China before the Columbian exchange. In Taiwan, the young leaves are used in cuisines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydroxy-α-sanshool</span> Chemical compound

Hydroxy-α-sanshool is a molecule found in plants from the genus Zanthoxylum. It is believed to be responsible for the numbing and tingling sensation caused by eating food cooked with Sichuan peppercorns and Uzazi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manipuri cuisine</span> Cuisine of Manipur, a state of northeastern India

Manipuri cuisine refers to the cuisine of Manipur, a state of northeastern India. Daily meals are based on rice, with a few side dishes of vegetables, fish and meat. A meal would usually have a vegetable stew called ensaang or athongba, flavored with dried or fried fish; stir-fried vegetables called kanghou; and a spicy item, which could be morok metpa, eromba, or singju. All piquant side dishes are accompanied by a choice of fresh herbs, collectively called maroi. The base and essence of Meitei cuisine is the fermented fish called ngari. Several dishes of meat, mostly chicken and pork, are cooked with unique recipes. As a result of religious taboos, however, the Meitei Pangals do not cook the latter.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to herbs and spices:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chili oil</span> Condiment made from chili peppers

Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Southeast Asian cuisine, Italy, and elsewhere. It is particularly popular in Chinese cuisine, especially western Chinese cuisines such as Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Guizhou cuisine, and Shaanxi cuisine where it is used as an ingredient in cooked dishes as well as a condiment. It is sometimes used as a dip for meat and dim sum. It is also employed in the Korean Chinese noodle soup dish jjamppong. A closely related condiment in Chinese cuisine is chili crisp, which contains edible chunks of food and chilis in oil.

<i>Mala</i> (seasoning) Spicy Chinese seasoning

Mala is a spicy and numbing seasoning made from Sichuan peppercorn and chilli. Most commonly, mala is made into a sauce by simmering it in oil and other spices. Characteristic of Sichuan cuisine, particularly Chongqing cuisine, it has become one of the most popular ingredients in Chinese cuisine, spawning many regional variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sichuan pepper</span> Chinese spice

Sichuan pepper, also known as Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and mala pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, in Nepal, and in northeast India. Despite its name, Sichuan pepper is not closely related to black pepper or chili peppers. It is made from plants of the genus Zanthoxylum in the family Rutaceae, which includes citrus and rue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinatisan</span>

Pinatisan is a Filipino cooking process consisting of meat braised in patis, garlic, ginger, onion, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Some recipes also add non-traditional ingredients like tomatoes, chili peppers, and other herbs and spices. Vinegar may also be added. It is very similar to binagoongan, which is made using fermented shrimp. It is also similar to Philippine adobo and paksiw, but is distinguished by the primary use of fish sauce in place of vinegar. Pinatisan has a strong umami flavor rather than the characteristic sour and sweet flavor of adobo.

The Korean spice sancho is made from Zanthoxylum schinifolium, which is less bitter than chopi made from Zanthoxylum piperitum. In Korean cuisine, sancho is often used to accompany fish soups such as chueo-tang.

References

Citation

  1. ↑ Wiersema, John H.; León, Blanca (1999). World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference. CRC Press. p. 636. ISBN   978-0-849-32119-1.
  2. ↑ Ravindran (2017), p. 473.
  3. 1 2 Staples, George; Kristiansen, Michael S. (1999). Ethnic Culinary Herbs: A Guide to Identification and Cultivation in Hawaiʻi. University of Hawaii Press. p. 100. ISBN   978-0-824-82094-7.
  4. 1 2 3 Korea National Arboretum (2015). English Names For Korean Native Plants한반도 자생식물 영어이름 목록집. Pocheon. pp. 683–684. ISBN   978-8-997-45098-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link); PDF file via Korea Forest Service
  5. ↑ Honda, M. [in Japanese] (1932), "Nuntia ad Floram Japoniae XVIII", Shokubutsugaku Zasshi, 46 (550): 633, doi: 10.15281/jplantres1887.46.633
  6. 1 2 Walton, Stuart (2018). "5 Blazing a Trail―chili's journey through Asia and Africa". The Devil's Dinner: A Gastronomic and Cultural History of Chili Peppers. St. Martin's. pp. 104–121. ISBN   978-1-250-16321-9.
  7. ↑ American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature (1923). Standardized Plant Names: A Catalogue of Approved Scientific and Common Names of Plants in American Commerce. The Committee. p.  535.
  8. 1 2 3 Kato, Nobuhide (1945), Herbs used in Northern Japan, vol. 39, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, pp. 52–53
  9. 1 2 Kimura et al. (1996), p. 82.
  10. 1 2 "Sanshō さん‐しょう【山椒】", Kojien , 4th ed., 1991.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Okuyama, Haruki (1969) [1968]. "Sanshō" さんしょう. Sekai hyakka jiten. Vol. 9. pp. 698–9.
  12. ↑ Montreal Horticultural Society and Fruit Growers' Association of the Province of Quebec (1876). First Report of the Fruit Committee. Montreal: Witness Printing House. p. 25.
  13. 1 2 Okada, Minoruえｗ (1998). "Wakanyaku no senpin nijū: sanshō no senpin" 和漢薬の選品20：山椒の選品. Gekkan kanpō ryōhō. 2 (8): 641–645.
  14. ↑ Makihara, Naomi (1983). "Spices and Herbs Used in Japanese Cooking". Plants & Gardens. 39: 52.
  15. 1 2 3 Ravindran (2017), p. 474.
  16. ↑ Gordh, Gordon; Headrick, David (2011). "Citrus Butterfly". A Dictionary of Entomology. CAB International. p. 308. ISBN   978-1-845-93542-9.
  17. ↑ Yanase E, Ohno M, Harakawa H, Nakatsuka S (23 September 2010). "Isolation of N,N-Dimethyl and N-Methylserotonin 5-O-β-Glucosides from Immature Zanthoxylum piperitum Seeds". Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry. 74 (9, 23): 1951–1952. doi:10.1271/bbb.100261. PMID   20834148. S2CID   26028576.
  18. 1 2 prefectural website: "Wakayama ichban (2) budō sanshō" 和歌山一番②ぶどう山椒 ｜. Wakayama Prefecture. August 2009. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  19. 1 2 3 Ravindran (2017), p. 476.
  20. 1 2 3 Andoh & Beisch (2005), p. 47.
  21. ↑ Shimbo (2001) , p. 261 uses this same metaphor.
  22. ↑ Shimbo (2001) , pp. 261–, "Bamboo shoots tossed with aromatic sansho leaves (takenoko no kinome-ae)"
  23. ↑ Ravindran (2017), p. 475.
  24. ↑ "Goheimochi no tsukurikata" 五平餅の作り方. Toyota Goheimochi Gakkai. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  25. ↑ Rural Culture Association Japan [in Japanese] (2006). Denshō shashinkan Nihon no shokubunka 4: Koshūestsu伝承写真館日本の食文化 5 甲信越. Rural Culture Association Japan. p. 13. ISBN   9784540062285.
  26. ↑ "Kyō sanshō arare" 京山椒あられ. Ogura Sanso. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  27. ↑ "山椒あられ". Shichimiya honpo. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  28. ↑ "Mishō-ya no Sansho senbei" 実生屋の山椒餅. Sagawa Kurogane no kai. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  29. ↑ "Mochi rui" 餅類. Tawaraya Yoshitomi. Archived from the original on 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
  30. ↑ 박, 선홍 (22 September 2011). "음식 잡냄새 잡고 들쥐 쫓아주는 매콤한 향" [Spicy aroma that deodorizes food and drives out harvest mice]. Chungcheong Today (in Korean). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  31. ↑ Hsu, Hong-Yen (1986). Oriental materia médica: a concise guide. Oriental Healing Arts Institute. p. 382. ISBN   9780941942225., "..citral, citronellal, dipentene; (+)-phellandrene, geraniol;(2)pungent substances: sanshool I (a-sanshool), sanshoamide"

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.