It is often mistakenly believed that this herb belongs to the pepper family. As the Sichuan pepper the berries of the yellow wood tree are known. In use they can be found in the Sichuan region in China, in Japan the leaves of the plant are also in use. The ripe fruit capsules open similar to the star anise: This explains probably also the name anise pepper
Sichuan pepper has a sharp flavour and seasoning is common in China, especially chicken and duck. It belongs to the Chinese five-spice powder and Japanese seven-spice mixture.

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