[Sca-cooks] regulations on sales of spices?

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Darren Gasser:
>Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>>  Szechuan peppercorn, fagara, and sansho are all more common names in
>>  the U.S. than flower pepper. Long flower pepper is a term I've never
>>  heard before, which begs the question, are you absolutely sure you
>>  aren't supposed to be looking for long pepper, which is another
>>  critter entirely?
>
>Am I missing something?  I thought the Japanese sansho wasn't the same thing
>as fagara or sichuan peppercorn.  Similar, but not identical.

I don't know; I've heard it said that they're the same thing. There
seems to be some disagreement on that point, but I suspect such a
disagreement wouldn't exist if the two were very dissimilar. I mean,
nobody argues whether elephants and cheese are the same thing, or
not. Now you know how I feel when I hear people confusing Scotch
Bonnets with Habaneros.

>There is unfortunately a U.S. federal ban on the import of whole sichuan
>peppercorns right now due to a citrus canker in Southeast Asia.  You can
>import them roasted and ground, but that's mostly pointless.

Hah. I hadn't heard that, and I suspect that previously imported
stores are such that I haven't noticed any lack of Szechuan
peppercorns in the markets (although I confess I haven't looked; an
eight-ounce bag lasts me a _looooong_ time).

Stefan. Are you a coffee drinker (or I'm sure there's a similar
analogy that would impact on you)? Think of roasted, freshly-ground
coffee in a thin plastic bag, sitting in a warehouse for a couple of
months, then maybe being shipped overseas by boat, stored in another
warehouse for a while, then maybe moved to another warehouse, then to
your local market, where it sits on the shelf for a while, all the
while losing flavorful and aromatic molecules to the air, and
probably the essential oils in it becoming slightly rancid. Question:
do you want to drink it?

That's why importing roasted, ground Szechuan peppercorns is
pointless, and why most cooks routinely prefer freshly-ground,
recently-whole, spices.

Adamantius