Where does this come from, and can I check it?

The tingle comes from sanshool, a compound in the citrus family. The figure is taken from American Chemical Society, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Sichuan peppercorn is not a peppercorn

The tingle comes from sanshool, a compound in the citrus family Sichuan peppercorns are the dried husks of berries from shrubs in the citrus family, unrelated to the pepper vine. Their numbing, buzzing sensation comes from sanshool, a molecule that stimulates touch nerves rather than heat receptors. Cooks pair them with chilli in the flavouring known as mala, where the tingling and the burn are meant to arrive together. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

American Chemical Society

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Science trivia

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Tags: sichuan-pepper, sanshool, tingling

Sichuan peppercorn is not a peppercorn: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: The tingle comes from sanshool, a compound in the citrus family. The figure is taken from American Chemical Society, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.