CC-Store Szechuan Peppercorns 2oz-Less Seeds-Strong Flavor and Taste-Red Sichuan Peppers for Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo Tofu

I've been buying Sichuan peppers at Whole Foods (the Spicely brand) for about a year. That's been my only real experience with them. I knew they were low quality because there were almost as many black seeds as there were seedpods. I also suspected they weren't fresh. They had very little smell, very little taste, and the only way to experience a numb mouth was to suck on the spice directly - I could never get a numbing effect from the final dish no matter how much I used or how I prepared it.So I tried these. They are so much better there's just no comparison.I used two-day shipping (prime) but they showed up in one day. The box had a strong scent like lavender - I thought my wife had ordered some bath soap or something, and was pretty surprised when I got the box open and found my bag of Sichuan peppers. I'd ordered the 12oz bag, and there were about 5 cups of pods (no black seeds) in a resealable bag. They seemed very fresh - you could smell them across the room.I had to try them.Five minutes later, I had powdered a spoonful and added it to the oil for a stir-fry of tofu with cabbage and ghost peppers. The smell was great, the taste was great, and it really enhanced the flavor of the other ingredients. Also, my mouth went numb at the third bite.So. Fresh, organic, great price - couldn't be happier.

I will first get this out of the way, I’m not a professional cook but am a good cook..so take what I say with a grain of salt. When receiving the product I opened it and immediately see on top what appeared to be a mouse dropping, but want to positive if it was a mis-shaped seed. I tried the product raw a did get the numbing effect. Made a chili sauce and a Sichuan sauce and neither had a numbing effect ( used 2 table spoons on each). Also noticed quit a-bit of stems and seeds. Over all wasn’t too impressed but haven’t bought from anyone else so I don’t have a comparison to really pass a fair judgment.

I like it, i ordered because i can’t seem to find Szechuan restaurant around me that will make it spicy enough for an old white dude, I’m not versed enough in this style of food to give an opinion on it’s relative quality but it looks good, smells good, and just by chewing a couple of berries out of the package they are definitely tingly and numbing with a slightly smokey taste. Can’t wait to try these with some noodle soup and in my beef rubs.

3.5 stars. Nice enough although it has a lot of little branches and twigs in the product mixed in with the peppercorns. But for the price it was ok plus I needed them delivered quickly and this one was readily available.The one thing I didn't care for is that the product arrived in a ziplock type baggie with out it being "properly" sealed as most products are, making you wonder why it wasn't packaged in a more sanitary or stronger manner. I transferred the peppercorns into a sealed small jar and used them for the Asian dish I was preparing. When I'm out I will probably will not reorder from this vendor again for the packaging reason.

Product is of excellent potency and has very few to no seeds. Stems are somewhat prevalent but not to such a degree as to affect the overall product weight much or interfere with consumption of the product to any significant degree.This spice is excellent for a wide array of foods and is best when ground before adding to food, as the flavor and active numbing component is strongly tied to the spice itself and does not appreciably diffuse when placed whole in boiling water.I recommend this spice for anyone looking to jazz up their recipes. A true culinary adventure.

They really are fresh materials, so they have hulls and twigs. I hand mortared them for quite awhile, but they still were not like the highly-processed foods we get in the supermarket, so I have mixed fellings -- this is not really a complaint, but it is a consideration. Chacun à son goût

Good Flavor in the peppercorn husks however I would say over half still contained the inner seed which is not desirable in Szechuan peppercorns as they only contribute to a gritty texture. Will be seeking out a different brand

This is the real deal. Super fresh and pungent. I've never been able to find decent sichuan peeppercorns in any of the asian grocery stores I've been to all over California. They're all dark brown and stale with very little tingly flavor/sensation. These are brightly colored and that characteristic scent/flavor hit me as soon as I opened shipping box it came in. With these, you only need maybe a teaspoon or less for a huge amount of flavor as good as the best sichuan restaurants.These might cost a lot more than the horrible ones you can find in a store, but it's well worth it and you get a huge a mount that should last a long time