If normal peppers are the drugs to which I am horribly addicted, then Sichuan peppercorns are psychedelics. While most peppers produce some sort of burning or tingling on the Scoville spectrum, Sichuan have some of the weirdest goddamn effects I've ever felt. Imagine a burning, but not so much in heat as in numbness. And it's not really a numbness, but some whacked out narcotic tingling sensation. And it leaves your mouth not reeling, but seemingly cleansed by some foreign antiseptic, and wondering just what sort of bastard botanical graced its naughty parts.
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