Tongue numbing berry | May 25

Bless the first bird that ever grabbed this tiny berry–this tongue numbing berry–with its beak–and chomped on it. OR–if that first bird grabbed the tiny berry–the tongue numbing berry–and carried it back to its nest to feed bird babies–well–bless the baby bird who chomped onto it. I’ll bet bird news was passed like quick lightning that day. “Red Alert! Red Alert! Don’t eat the berries from the dumb numb tree at” followed by specific bird navigational directions. “Peril. Danger. Your beak will fall of. Fly away! For your own safety, fly away!”

One of the guests [this is a Beijing story] sitting around the gigantic circular table we were seated at started talking about the best spices in the world. We were enjoying Hot Pot (huoguo) and knew that not everyone had the same spices swirling and swimming in their individual bubbling pots of broth. [Hot Pot is fabulous. F A B U L O U S. Which is why there’s a post coming to a blog near you.]

Conversation eventually turned to spices that were known for having a keen flavor, or for their “flame” factor–how hot it made the food. [I don’t like really hot food. I just don’t. The whole idea of eating something that’s going to blow your head right off just isn’t appealing. In any way.] He indicated that he had a particularly tasty and ‘special’ spice in his soup/broth that he would be happy to share. “It would be worth it to try it. The flavor is so astonishingly different.”

Uhm. Astonishingly different hot kind of different or astonishingly different spicy kind of different?

“You’ll like it. Just try it.”

He handed me a pod that looked like one of these. [Only they were in focus.]

To be clear–there are four peppercorn pods in this photo. Four. He handed me one.

“Just bite into it.”

The first time I tasted Szechuan peppercorn I thought I was going to die–well–that–or someone had slipped me some kind of drug. I thought it was the onset of a migraine and began checking my peripheral vision by holding both open, flat hands to the sides of my head and looking forward while I moved my hands up and down to see if I could see them. My vision was fine.

“What’s going on?”

It was a question directed mostly at myself, but very much aloud.

I must have looked a little wild/wide eyed because Handsome Dude asked me if I was okay.

He asked me if I was okay at about the same time I noticed that I was drooling down both sides of my mouth.

Drooling. And now [glory hallelujah] I’ve begun to weep. Involuntarily bawling.

This truly was a special drug.

~snork~

So here’s why I thought it might be a migraine: my tongue and lips were numb. Numb as in I was slapping my face and pinching my lips.

There was also a no-good-very-bad taste in my mouth. And burning. Not hot, hot, hot burning–just the uncomfortable kind. It was the numbing stuff that was throwing my groove completely off.

I wanted to punch his lights out.

I grabbed a handful of napkins and started wiping my tongue off–and the drool. ~sheesh~ Wiping the drool was fast becoming a full-time job.

Until 2005, there was a long-standing ban on the importation of this pepper. Lips were falling off–tongues were falling out–people were suffering. Which isn’t the truth. The part about the ban is the truth, but not the other stuff. Several years ago, our very own FDA banned the importation of Szechuan Peppercorns because they (the peppercorns) were carrying a citrus canker virus. That particular virus could potentionally damage the foliage of citrus trees. Humankind was never in any jeopardy [depending on who’s telling the story, because if I’m telling the story then humankind was indeed in jeopardy–stinkin’ peppercorns]. In 2005, the USDA and FDA  lifted the ban with the stipulation that all peppercorns wishing to be imported must be heated to a certain degree Farenheit, killing the canker virus.

I drooled for what seemed like years.

Handsome Dude quickly decided not to bite into the peppercorn husk he’d been given.

“The thing about this Szechuan peppercorn is that people love it or they hate it.”

Ahhh–and you couldn’t have mentioned that before you gifted it? [drool-wipe-drool]

“Sure–but I don’t think you would have tried it if I’d said anything.”

You are a man of intuition.

[With very few moments left to live, I might add–which I’ll take care of the second I stop drooling.]

So here’s what I’m going to do for those of you who are so intrigued now that you can’t even stand it. [I know you’re out there.]

You can purchase Szechuan Peppercorn, here.

Here’s a recipe that uses tongue numbing berry Szechuan Peppercorn: Hot and Numbing Chicken. [You’ll have to tell me how it turns out. Don’t send an invitation to join you, because no. No and absolutely not. No.]

Oh, and don’t forget the giveaway. We’re getting closer to the final countdown. Invite a friend. Leave a comment on any blog post or Facebook post. Click “Like” on the Sweet Creek Moon Facebook page. There are several ways to increase your chances of winning this a-DOOR-able summer banner. It might as well be you as anyone, right?

~grin~

Here’s the information. Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway