Our Sichuan Tribute Pepper is certified Sichuan pepper from the mountain village of Qingxi, the best of the regions pepper villages. It is also called gong jiao, or Tribute Pepper, because while Sichuan pepper is grown in many areas of China, this was the one the emperors of China favored and demanded as tribute. 
 
Tribute Pepper has a quite different taste than regular Sichuan Pepper. Regular Sichuan Pepper is warm and woodsy flavoured while Tribute Pepper is less strong and more floral flavoured, but packing a much stronger punch. The peppercorns are slightly smaller and darker as well. 
 
Our Sichuan Pepper has not undergone the once-required heat-treatment process that for so long robbed Sichuan pepper of some of its punch. 
 
The peppercorns are hand-picked and dried by the farmers before being machine-sorted once and then hand sorted twice! as only the top grades of pepper are. This insures mostly opened seed pods and no seeds, which appear in abundance in lower-quality Sichuan pepper.
 
Sichuan peppercorns are typically toasted and ground to a coarse or fine powder. Alternatively, you can heat them in hot oil to infuse the flavor and remove the peppercorns altogether. we love using them whole as you get the best zing and flavour.