Traditional Hot Pot in Chongqing

GASTRONOMIC EXPLORATION

A spice called the Sichuan pepper or Chinese prickly ash growing in the Daliang Mountains best represents southwest China’s condiments. This indigenous Chinese spice can generate tingly numbness in the mouth since it stimulates the gustatory nerve at a frequency of 50 times per second.

Chili, another spice commonly used in cooking, after being introduced from South America, took root in China and gradually replaced indigenous spices as the most widely found seasoning. In the Dalou Mountains in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, people of the Tujia ethnic group know how to cultivate the best red cluster pepper, arguably the hottest in China. Scientists say that water of 500,000 times more is needed to thoroughly dilute the pungent taste of the chili.

An encounter of Sichuan pepper and chili pepper is not only a collision between tastes and gustatory nerves, but also a union of ingredients from Asia and America. The two wonderful spices eventually met in a city – Chongqing, where a numbingly spicy adventure started.