Sansho buttons are the same flower bud as what the folks at koppertcress call Sechuan buttons, it seems the name Sechuan button is a figment of someone's imagination as research shows it has no verifiable connection to the Sechuan province of China. In addition Koppercress makes it rather annoying and cryptic to get thier products. Thankfully in America, there are always other avenues of progress.
Take a look at Sungrown's website.
Click HERE.
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8352c8dc269e200e398230a188833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sansho Buttons:
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
try the farmers market (n.y.) near park avenue.
there is a kind of nursery stand and they sell
a "toothache" plant a.k.a sechuan button.....
Posted by: ruby | Monday, August 06, 2007 at 01:37 PM
Assuming that these are the flowering buds of the plant that produces Sichuan pepper, the naming makes some sense: Sichuan pepper and sansho pepper, despite what some foodies would have you believe, are botanically the same species, zanthoxylum piperitum:
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Zant_pip.html
There are a couple of related species (from Korea and Nepal) that are taxonomologically distinct from z. piperitum, but the Chinese Sichuan pepper and the Japanese Sansho pepper are identical.
Posted by: Al | Monday, August 06, 2007 at 02:34 PM
Al, from what I gather the peppercorns are from a different plant, again I cant confirm that, just what I have been told by a spice trader in Japan.
Yes Sichuan peppercorns are the same as Sansho berries.
Reuven do you mean the Union Square Market ?
I am there most saturdays and havent seem them there.
Posted by: shola olunloyo | Monday, August 06, 2007 at 04:33 PM
So, how would you use these? They're cool-looking, but how do they taste?
Posted by: Phil | Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 11:48 AM
It actually tastes like a mild electric shock.
I have seen someone use it in an unagi dish at a sushi competition and the chef called it the "electric eel".
Posted by: shola olunloyo | Thursday, August 09, 2007 at 08:21 AM
What is called "Sansho buttons" or "Sechuan buttons" here has nothing to do with the Japanese/Chinese/Korean pepper tree (Zanthoxylum) - except probably for a similar numbing taste, but is actually the flower bud of Spilanthes oleracea, called also "paracress". Look here to find everything one needs to know about it: http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Spil_acm.html.
Best wishes
Detlef
Posted by: Detlef Bruck-Willberg | Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 05:41 PM