日本語版

Sichuan pepper (huajiao)

organism / organism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum

カホクザンショウ / Zanthoxylum bungeanum

Sichuan pepper (huajiao) is a fruit-husk spice that elicits the chemesthetic sensations of tingling and numbness. Contains alkylamides (sanshools).

On this page (7 sections)
  1. Overview
  2. Sources for this overview (2)
  3. Topic hubs
  4. Other names
  5. Follow the connections
  6. Related entries (10)
  7. Sensory (5)
↑

Reading the bitterness

Huajiao (「花椒」; 「カホクザンショウ」, kahoku-zanshō; Zanthoxylum bungeanum) is a fruit-husk spice containing alkylamides (sanshools) that elicits tingling and numbness as chemesthetic sensations. In a study where a trained panel evaluated Chinese huajiao samples, tingling was among the sensations measured, and its intensity was higher in samples with higher Scoville values.

Another study tested isolated hydroxy-sanshool compounds in solution rather than huajiao itself. It confirmed that tingling is a measurable sensation and showed that its spread has a spatial and temporal structure. At low concentrations of the irritant compounds, tingling characteristically began at the tip of the tongue and ended at the lips; at moderate concentrations, tingling, astringency, a vibrating sensation, and numbness spread over time from the tongue tip to the sides of the tongue, lips, palate, and buccal mucosa.

Numbness was also measured in the same sensory-panel study of huajiao samples, and its duration was longer in samples with higher Scoville values. This description is based only on the abstract, and individual values for each sample were not extracted.

Salivation was another attribute measured alongside tingling and numbness, and it lasted longer in samples with higher Scoville values. Huajiao is thus characterized not by bitterness itself but as a stimulus combining multiple chemesthetic sensations.

Sources for this overview

  1. Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation

    Zhang LL; et al. / 2018 / journal article / abstract checked

    Checked for this overview: Checked that tingling was measured and was more intense in the high-SPU group. / Checked that the duration of numbness was associated with Scoville values. / Checked that salivation was among the measured attributes.

  2. Pungency Evaluation of Hydroxyl-Sanshool Compounds After Dissolution in Taste Carriers Per Time-Related Characteristics

    Zhang L; Shi B; Wang H; Zhao L; Chen Z / 2017 / journal article / abstract checked

    Checked for this overview: Checked the spatial and temporal structure of the spread of tingling.

Other names: 花椒 (zh)

Follow the connections

Sichuan pepper (huajiao) →can elicit→ tingling

Sichuan pepper (huajiao) →can elicit→ numbing

Sichuan pepper (huajiao) →can elicit→ salivation

Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits

Sensory (5)

Sichuan pepper (huajiao) can elicit tinglingsupported

Scope: Human sensory evaluation of huajiao samples.

Tingling was among the measured sensations and was more intense in high-Scoville samples.
Limitations: The statement that multiple attributes, including tingling, had 「高SPU群で強度が高い」 (in translation: "higher intensity in the high-SPU group") is supported by TI quantitative values in the abstract. The abstract gives no separate numerical value for each attribute (such as an AUC value for tingling alone), only AUC/Imax/Ttot values pooled across attributes.
Source: Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation (Zhang LL; et al., 2018) · abstract checked
The study confirmed that tingling is a measurable sensation of hydroxy-sanshool compounds and added spatial and temporal structure: at low concentrations of irritant compounds, it was characterized by tingling that began at the tongue tip and ended at the lips, whereas at moderate concentrations tingling, astringency, a vibrating sensation, and numbness spread over time from the tongue tip to the sides of the tongue, lips, palate, buccal mucosa, and tongue surface.
Limitations: Because this study tested a class of isolated compounds in solution rather than huajiao specimens, it supports the sensation itself but not a ranking of intensity at the spice level. It may share a research group with the existing source; the extraction is based on the abstract.
Source: Pungency Evaluation of Hydroxyl-Sanshool Compounds After Dissolution in Taste Carriers Per Time-Related Characteristics (Zhang L; Shi B; Wang H; Zhao L; Chen Z, 2017) · abstract checked
Show dataorganism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum —can_elicit→ sensation-tingling
claim: clm-huajiao-tingling / type: sensory / updated: 2026-08-30
Sichuan pepper (huajiao) can elicit numbingsupported

Scope: Human sensory evaluation of huajiao samples.

Numbness was among the measured sensations, and its duration was longer in high-Scoville samples.
Limitations: Abstract-level evidence; values for individual samples were not extracted.
Source: Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation (Zhang LL; et al., 2018) · abstract checked
Show dataorganism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum —can_elicit→ sensation-numbing
claim: clm-huajiao-numbing / type: sensory / updated: 2026-08-30
Sichuan pepper (huajiao) can elicit salivationsupported

Scope: Human sensory evaluation of huajiao samples.

Note: Measured as a salivation attribute alongside tingling and numbness.

The salivating attribute was measured and lasted longer in high-Scoville specimens.
Limitations: Abstract-level evidence; quantitative values for the direction of salivation were not extracted.
Source: Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation (Zhang LL; et al., 2018) · abstract checked
Show dataorganism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum —can_elicit→ sensation-salivation
claim: clm-huajiao-salivation / type: sensory / updated: 2026-08-30
Sichuan pepper (huajiao) — perceived bitterness is positively associated with: A high Scoville Pungency Unit (SPU) value of the pericarp. When 9 samples (SPU 38,000-460,000) were divided into a high-SPU group (>150,000) and a low-SPU group (<150,000), the intensity of oral sensory attributes including bitterness, rated by descriptive analysis, was higher in the high-SPU group than in the low-SPU group.preliminary

Scope: Layer: food. 9 samples of Chinese huajiao (Zanthoxylum bungeanum), evaluated by a trained human panel using descriptive analysis, time-intensity (TI), and temporal dominance of sensations (TDS). SPU is a value measured by the Scoville test.

Note: Bitterness is one of the sensory attributes measured by descriptive analysis, alongside tingling, vibration, salivation, burning, astringency, and numbing. This is an abstract-level group comparison; the abstract does not report correlation coefficients or the significance level for each individual attribute.

The source states: "The intensities of tingling, vibrating, salivating, burning, astringency, numbing, and bitterness in high-performing SPU samples (measured at more than 150,000) were found to be much higher than in low SPU samples (less than 150,000)."
Limitations: This is an abstract-level check; the significance level and correlation coefficient for bitterness alone are not reported. It is a 2-group comparison of high-SPU versus low-SPU groups, and a continuous dose-response relationship is not shown.
Source: Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation (Zhang LL; et al., 2018) · abstract checked
Show dataorganism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum —has_perceived_bitterness_positively_associated_with→ "A high Scoville Pungency Unit (SPU) value of the pericarp. When 9 samples (SPU 38,000-460,000) were divided into a high-SPU group (>150,000) and a low-SPU group (<150,000), the intensity of oral sensory attributes including bitterness, rated by descriptive analysis, was higher in the high-SPU group than in the low-SPU group."
claim: clm-w67c-huajiao-bitterness-scales-with-pungency / type: sensory / updated: 2026-09-06
Sichuan pepper (huajiao) — astringency correlates with: A high Scoville Pungency Unit (SPU) value of the pericarp. The high-SPU group (>150,000) had higher astringency intensity than the low-SPU grouppreliminary

Scope: Layer: food. 9 samples of Chinese huajiao, evaluated by a trained human panel using descriptive analysis. The high-SPU group (>150,000) was rated as having higher astringency intensity than the low-SPU group (<150,000).

In the same descriptive analysis, astringency is also reported to have higher intensity in the high-SPU group (>150,000) than in the low-SPU group (<150,000).
Limitations: The correlation between the astringency and bitterness rating values has not been tested; this remains an observation that both covary with SPU.
Source: Evaluation of the pungency intensity and time-related aspects of Chinese Zanthoxylum bungeanum based on human sensation (Zhang LL; et al., 2018) · abstract checked
Show dataorganism-zanthoxylum-bungeanum —has_astringency_correlated_with→ "A high Scoville Pungency Unit (SPU) value of the pericarp. The high-SPU group (>150,000) had higher astringency intensity than the low-SPU group"
claim: clm-w67c-huajiao-astringency-scales-with-pungency / type: sensory / updated: 2026-09-06

↑ Top of page · ← Encyclopedia (English entries)