[Sca-cooks] Herby things

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Susan Fox-Davis wrote:
>Aniseed could probably be substituted for star anise, but I would taste
>carefully because it is strong stuff!  I have only found star anise for
>sale pre-ground in a Chinese market.

Seems to me they taste rather different. Star anise is milder and 
sweeter than anise seed, and i find it far more tolerable (yeah, i'm 
one of those that strongly dislike anise).

Re: Sichuan peppercorns
>Other names include "flower pepper" or "Japanese Sansho
>pepper."  I have not tried this spice but it is supposed to have some
>bite and some liquorice-type flavor, which is why they substitute
>aniseed for it in Chinese 5-Spice you get here.

As has already been posted, sansho is related to Szechuan pepper, but 
different. And in my experience it doesn't taste like anise in the 
slightest. One of its interesting characteristics is that it numbs 
the tongue a bit.

I recently had sushi  of rise wrapped in nori with a filling of 
pureed umeboshi and a fresh sansho leaf, and of course a dash of 
wasabi. Interesting combination!

Anise and Szechuan pepper don't substitute for one another at all, as 
far as i can tell. Anise sometimes is substituted for star anise 
because anise is way cheaper and easier to get.

There's a relative of Szechuan pepper that is used in Batak cooking 
in North Sumatra, Indonesia, called andalimon. So far i don't know of 
it used elsewhere in Indonesian cooking. It was in the saksang (a pig 
dish that contains nearly every part of the pig, including squares of 
skin - some still had a little hair on) that i ate every day for 10 
days when visiting my then-husband's village on the shores of Lake 
Toba.

Anahita