Zanthoxyllum piperitum. Origin: China. Not a true peppercorn, but rather the dried berry/seed of a deciduous prickly ash tree. The 3-4 mm berry has a rough reddish brown shell that is split open and a black seed inside. The black seed is bitter and can be discarded. The red shell can be added whole to stewed dishes or ground to a powder and used a seasoning. The spice has a unique aroma and flavor that is not as pungent as black pepper and has slight lemony overtones. Szechuan peppercorns are one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder. Called sansho in Japan, they are used in the spice mixture shichimi togarashi, or Japanese seven-spice seasoning

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(S. terebinthifolius) has small fruits of peppercorn size and is sometimes used in the European nouvelle cuisine, mostly in form of a decorative mixture with white, black and green pepper corns; the larger fruits of S. molle have appeared on the European market around 1950, but are no longer available.

Pink peppercorns are named so for their shape only, not for their flavour, which is not pungent, but mild and sweet. Pink peppercorns must therefore not be confused with the ripe pepper fruits that also have red hue, but show an intense peppery pungency.

The flavour of the small, pink berries also marketed as “pink berries” or “pepper rosé” is rather weak, and so these berries serve predominantly ornamental purpose, although they can develop a subtle flavour in food that has little other spices. Some books suggest them for fish and certain vegetables (e.g., asparagus); this recommendation makes much more sense for me than the often found habit to mix black, white and green peppercorns with pink pepper; in such a mixture, the subtle flavour of pink pepper gets mostly lost. It is far better to mix in a few allspice berries if one wants to have a pepper with an exotic and aromatic flavour, or use a spice mixture like quatre épices instead (see nutmeg).

In the 1970s there was some concern about potential health hazard in connection with pink peppercorns, as phenolic irritants were found in a couple of Schinus and other Anacardiaceae species. In dried pink peppercorns, however, only very weak (if any) irritating action was confirmed. Yet even now some books recommend that pink pepper should only be used with caution, especially for people suffering from chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa.

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Aframomum meleguetta. (grains) Origin: Ivory Coast. They have been an important spice in 15.th century Europe, when spices were high in demand, but the sea route to India had not yet been discovered. In these times, grains of paradise were a common substitute for black pepper. The West African coast got its name “pepper coast” because the grains of paradise were traded there. Later, in the Renaissance, when pepper hat outrun them as the favourite kitchen spice, grains of paradise were common as beer flavouring.

Since then, the importance of this spice has vanished to quite zero in our days; outside its production area (Central Africa), it is only known in Northern Africa and may appear in Moroccan spice mixtures (see cubeb pepper). See also negro pepper for a comparison of several pungent spices

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