notbob wrote:
> Yesterday's San Jose Mercury food section had an article about the
> imminent return of Szechuan pepper to the US. Evidently, heating the
> pepper to >140 deg F for 10 mins is enough to kill the citrus canker
> that caused its ban. The article went on to say that although none
> has been found locally, Draeger's is hot on the trail. Good thing, as
> my horded stash is almost gone.

I saw some last week in the Chinese market on Castro Street, Mountain View.
It was in big plastic bags, probably at least a half pound, in a cardboard
crate near the produce cooler. The bags were mislabelled - no mention of
Szechuan pepper on the label.

When I was in China a couple of years ago, I had a dish that was loaded
with Szechuan pepper, and the experience was far more intense than
anything I've had here at home. Biting into a peppercorn actually
caused my tongue to go numb and tingly for several minutes. After
that meal, I bought some Szechuan peppercorns in a market in Guilin,
and they had the same effect. Since then I've wondered whether the
stuff we used to get here was inferior quality or just stale.

-Joe