Prickly Ash
Prickly ash is the dried fruit husk of Zanthoxylum bungeanum and related species of the rue family, known in Chinese cooking as huajiao and in English most often as Sichuan pepper. Despite the name it is unrelated to black pepper and to chilli, and it belongs botanically with citrus.
Its defining property is not heat but tingling. The husk contains a group of unsaturated fatty acid amides, chiefly hydroxy alpha sanshool, which act on touch and vibration sensitive nerve endings rather than on the heat receptors, producing a buzzing, numbing tingle on the lips and tongue that people commonly describe as a light electric fizz. Paired with chilli, this is the numbing half of the mala character central to Sichuan cooking.
Alongside the amides the husk carries a volatile oil of between two and seven percent, built on linalool, limonene, sabinene and geraniol, which gives the bright citrus and floral aroma that separates good material from flat, woody stock. The seeds inside are gritty, bitter and largely flavourless and are screened out in better grades. The amides degrade with time and heat, so numbing strength falls off in storage and is lost if the spice is scorched in hot oil.
We source bulk Prickly Ash from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shandong. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Open dried husk or ground powder, free from live infestation |
| Colour | Reddish brown for red type, yellow green for green type |
| Odour and flavour | Characteristic citrus aromatic with numbing effect, true to reference sample |
| Seed content, whole grade | 3.0 percent maximum |
| Stalk and extraneous plant matter | 2.0 percent maximum |
| Volatile oil | 2.0 ml per 100 g minimum |
| Moisture | 11.0 percent maximum |
| Total ash | 8.0 percent maximum |
| Acid insoluble ash | 1.5 percent maximum |
| Particle size, ground grade | 95 percent through 60 mesh |
| Lead | 2.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 10,000 cfu/g maximum, steam treated grade |
| Yeast and mould | 100 cfu/g maximum, steam treated grade |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The first division is by species and colour. Red prickly ash from Zanthoxylum bungeanum is the mainstream type, deeper in aroma and strong in numbing, while green prickly ash from Zanthoxylum schinifolium is brighter, more citrus and lime like, and is used where a fresher character is wanted. Origin is stated because material from the traditional growing areas of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu commands a higher price.
Within a type, grading is by the proportion of open husk to seed and stalk, by colour, and by aroma. The best grades are almost entirely deseeded husk with a bright even colour, while lower grades carry seed, stalk and broken material. Numbing intensity is increasingly declared as an amide content or against a sensory scale, and volatile oil is declared for aroma. Whole husk, coarse ground and fine powder are separate cuts, and steam sterilised material is a separate line from untreated, since ground spice receives no kill step later. Prickly ash oil and oleoresin are related but distinct extracted products.
Applications
- Sichuan and Chongqing cooking, where it supplies the numbing half of the mala profile
- Hot pot bases, used whole in the oil and as a ground component of the seasoning
- Chilli oil and seasoning oil manufacture, infused in warm oil to extract the amides
- Five spice and mixed spice blends, as one of the classic five botanicals
- Braising and marinating liquors for meat, offal and cold dishes
- Sausage and cured meat production in regional Chinese styles
- Prickly ash salt, a dry roasted and ground condiment used as a dip
- Instant noodle and snack seasonings in the mala varieties
- Feedstock for prickly ash essential oil distillation and oleoresin extraction
- Traditional medicine preparations, where the fruit has a long documented use
Brands Using Prickly Ash
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Prickly Ash on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Prickly Ash
Top Prickly Ash manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States prickly ash is treated as a culinary spice, and spices, oleoresins and natural extractives are generally recognised as safe for their intended use in food under 21 CFR 182.10 and 182.20. The commodity has a particular regulatory history, since imports were restricted for many years on plant health grounds because the fruit can carry the bacterium responsible for citrus canker, and access was restored on the condition that the material is heat treated before entry. Imported lots remain subject to the food safety preventive controls and foreign supplier verification requirements.
In the European Union prickly ash is an ordinary food under general food law and the hygiene framework, so no E number applies. Pesticide maximum residue levels, mycotoxin limits for spices and the prohibition on ethylene oxide treatment are the controls that most often determine whether a consignment is accepted, and plant health import requirements apply to the raw commodity. Codex has no dedicated commodity standard for this spice, so contracts are generally written against the code of hygienic practice for spices and dried aromatic herbs together with the buyer's own quality schedule.
Manufacturing Process
Fruit is harvested when the husk has coloured but before it splits and drops its seed, and it is spread to dry in the sun or in low temperature mechanical driers. Drying temperature is a compromise, because heat that speeds the drying also volatilises the aromatic oil and degrades the sanshool amides that give the spice its value. As the husk dries it splits open and releases the black seed, which is separated by threshing and winnowing.
Cleaning follows in stages, with air classification removing light stalk and leaf, sieves separating seed and fines from husk, gravity tables removing stone and soil, and magnets and metal detectors clearing stray metal. Better grades are then passed over an optical or manual sorting line to remove residual seed and discoloured husk. Whole spice is packed at this point, or is steam sterilised under vacuum with a short saturated steam hold and flash cooling before grinding. Milling is done cold, with chilled air or liquid nitrogen, since the husk is oily and both smears and loses aroma in a warm mill. Ground material is classified through sieves and packed into foil laminate, usually under nitrogen, because both the aroma and the numbing potency fall away on exposure to air.
