by Melissa Block

Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10 pm Chengdu Time

Melissa Block cooking in Chengdu.
Jessica He, NPR

Melissa gets a lesson in making kung pao chicken at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine — where she sampled the Sichuan peppers.

I confess I was a little nervous about coming to Sichuan: nervous about HEAT. I am, truth be told, a spice wimp. But I'm also a lover of food, and what was the use of coming to a cradle of Chinese cuisine that exults in spice if I couldn't fully enjoy it? So what was the first thing I did in Chengdu? I ate a peppercorn. And I'm here to report that "ma" is my new favorite sensation.

"Ma" is the numbing feeling caused by the Sichuan pepper, or hua jiao. Sichuan pepper is not to be confused with chilis — the bright red peppers that also are found in hot profusion in Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan pepper grows on trees, and is dried to a lovely purplish-pink tiny pod.

Sichuan peppercorns, crushed chilis and dried chili.
Melissa Block, NPR

Sichuan peppercorns are in upper right corner, then clockwise: crushed chili (orange powder), crushed Sichuan pepper (brownish), and the whole bright, red dried chili."

I spend my first morning in Chengdu at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine. Intrepid host that I am, I pop a Sichuan peppercorn into my mouth and bite down hard. The "ma", the numbing tingle, starts on my tongue, an effervescent buzz. Soon the numbing vibration moves on to my lips. The cooking teacher tells me that if you have a toothache, you can pop some hua jiao in there and it will numb the pain. I believe it. "Ma" is an exquisite sensation — not at all like heat — and the taste of the Sichuan pepper is perfumey, a fragrant, aromatic layering that I've never tasted in Chinese food in the States. Note to self: check customs laws about bringing a stash of Sichuan pepper back home.