Sichuan Peppercorn and the Birth of Numbing Spices in East Asia

Abstract

Sichuan peppercorn Zanthoxylum sp. is an important food condiment, currently used in East Asia and South Asia. In this paper, we review genetic, archaeological, and linguistic evidence regarding the use of Zanthoxylum by ancient human populations. The evidence from these three disciplines converge to suggest that its earliest attested use dates from the mid-fourth millennium BCE, in Western Sichuan, making it one of the oldest spices in East Asia. The paper also discusses how this spice was supplemented, and even superseded, by the introduction of the American Chili Pepper (Capsicum spp.). in the seventeenth century. We further argue that differences in the biosynthesis of numbing compounds between cultivars of Zanthoxylum sp. in northern and southern Western China that are due to deep evolutionary processes may have in turn influenced culinary preferences.