Spicy And Numbing Base Flavour Paste
Spicy and numbing base flavour paste is the compounded cooking base known in Chinese as mala didiao, the fried paste from which Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot broths, dry pot dishes and numerous braised dishes are made. It is a fat continuous paste, most traditionally built on beef tallow, in which dried chilli, Sichuan pepper, fermented broad bean paste, fermented black bean, fermented chilli mash, garlic, ginger, onion, rock sugar and a spice blend of cassia, star anise, bay, fennel, cumin and cardamom have been fried together until the flavours transfer into the fat.
Two distinct sensations define it. Pungency comes from the capsaicinoids of Capsicum, which act on heat sensitive receptors, and numbness from the sanshools of Zanthoxylum, which instead stimulate touch sensitive nerve fibres to give a tingling sensation. Both are lipophilic, which is why the base is made in fat rather than in water, and why beef tallow, solid at room temperature and a strong carrier of aroma, remains the preferred medium despite the availability of cheaper vegetable oils. The fermented bean pastes supply glutamate, peptides and a deep savoury layer that no amount of spice reproduces.
The finished paste is deep red, solid or semi solid at ambient temperature when tallow based, and melts into a broth on heating. It comes in blocks, tubs, pails and retort pouches. Water activity is low and the fat phase excludes oxygen from the interior, so the main shelf life limits are oxidative rancidity and the loss of the numbing fraction, which degrades faster than any other component.
We source bulk Spicy And Numbing Base Flavour Paste from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Sichuan. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Deep red fat continuous paste or block with suspended spice particulate |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic spicy and numbing, fried and fermented, no scorched note |
| Identification | Sensory profile conforms to retained reference sample |
| Total Fat | Not less than 40% as declared per grade |
| Moisture | Not more than 20% |
| Sodium Chloride | 4 to 10% as declared |
| Pungency | Declared in Scoville heat units per grade |
| Peroxide Value of Fat Phase | Not more than 5.0 meq/kg |
| Lead | Not more than 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.5 mg/kg |
| Total Aflatoxins | Not more than 10 microgram/kg |
| Sudan Dyes | Not detected |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 5,000 cfu/g, commercially sterile for retorted grades |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main grade distinction is the fat. Pure beef tallow bases carry the fullest aroma and set firm, blended tallow and vegetable oil bases are cheaper and softer, and all vegetable bases are made for markets and consumers that avoid beef fat, at the cost of some of the characteristic mouthfeel. Consistency grades follow from the fat choice, running from a hard block through a soft paste to a pourable oil rich version.
Strength is specified on two independent axes rather than one, the chilli burn expressed in Scoville heat units at a stated dilution, and the numbing intensity assessed against a sensory reference, and commercial grades are described by their ratio of the two. Beyond that, grades differ by whether the chilli is used whole, coarsely cracked or milled to a paste, by the presence of fermented broad bean paste, which some clear broth versions omit, and by format, with retorted ambient stable single portion packs, catering pails and industrial drums all traded. Halal grades replace tallow with vegetable oil or mutton fat, and clear or white broth bases are formulated with the same aromatics but without the chilli and pepper load.
Applications
- Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot broths, where the base is melted into stock at the table
- Single portion self heating hotpot products, packed as a retorted block
- Dry pot and griddle cooked dishes, used as the frying medium rather than as a broth
- Malatang and skewer stalls, providing a standard broth across many outlets
- Braised and stewed dishes such as boiled fish in chilli oil and spicy beef
- Instant noodle and self heating rice paste sachets in numbing spicy varieties
- Central kitchen sauce production, diluted and standardised into a finished sauce
- Chilli oil manufacture, used as an intermediate that is thinned and filtered
- Marinades and dips for grilled skewers and barbecue
- Prepared frozen meals in Sichuan style, dosed before packing
China Manufacturers of Spicy And Numbing Base Flavour Paste
Top Spicy And Numbing Base Flavour Paste 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
The paste is a compound food rather than a food additive and carries no E number. Its components are ordinary foods, spices and fermented condiments, and any additive within it, an antioxidant in the fat phase, a preservative or a colour, must be permitted for the relevant food category in the destination market and declared in the ingredient list, under the food additives framework in the European Union and under the food additive and GRAS provisions of 21 CFR in the United States. Where capsicum extract is added at a level that contributes colour rather than flavour, the colour additive rules apply and it must be declared as a colour.
Manufacture in the United States falls under the preventive controls requirements for human food, and a shelf stable pack in a hermetically sealed container is a low acid canned food requiring a filed scheduled process, since a low acid particulate suspended in fat presents a Clostridium botulinum hazard that the fat itself does not control. Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A limits and pesticide residue limits apply to the dried chilli and spice, Sudan dyes and other unauthorised colours in chilli powder are a recognised adulteration risk that is routinely screened at import, and beef tallow makes the product unsuitable for several dietary claims and subject to the animal by product import rules of some markets. Codex covers the raw materials through its standards for spices and its general standard for contaminants.
Manufacturing Process
Raw materials are prepared separately. Dried chilli is deseeded, soaked or blanched and milled to a coarse mash known as ciba chilli, which distributes colour and pungency without burning as rapidly as dry flakes would. Sichuan pepper is cleaned and separated from its seed. Garlic, ginger and onion are cleaned and minced, the spice blend is cleaned and cracked, and the fermented broad bean paste and black bean are checked and weighed.
Frying is the central operation and is carried out in a jacketed kettle or a scraped surface cooker. Beef tallow is rendered or melted and brought to temperature, the aromatic vegetables are fried first to drive off their water and develop Maillard character, the fermented bean pastes follow and are fried until the raw fermented note softens and the colour deepens, then the chilli mash is added at a lower temperature so that the carotenoid pigment extracts into the fat without scorching. Sichuan pepper and the spice blend go in last and for the shortest time, since their volatile fraction and the sanshools are the most heat sensitive components. The batch is cooled, standardised with additional fat and salt, and then either hot filled and cooled to set, filled and retorted for an ambient stable pack, or blast chilled in blocks, with filling carried out under nitrogen where oxidation sets shelf life.
