Sichuan Pepper Tincture

Sichuan peppercorn tincture.

At home my husband and I started doing tinctures some years ago and we went crazy with them. Tried a lot of things, from sweet basil to lemon verbena, cucumber and even mole.  But one of our re-discovered favorites is Sichuan peppercorn.  It’s hard to pin exactly where does the charm lies but I’ll go with a balmy-elegant-roundness. Did I just write that?!  I guess you’ll have to taste for yourself or trust me on this one.

 For 4 oz. you’ll need:

 Sichuan peppercorns 

Ever Clear 190 proof- ouch!

Glass container – ideally a dropper bottle.  An easy find on the web.   You can use recycled glass jars or spice jars but a dropper is easier to use—and you get glam bonus points for it.  

 How to make it:

So, cover the floor base of your container with peppercorns- for a dropper bottle is about a tablespoon.

Fill the bottle up to two thirds with Ever Clear.   Store for one to two weeks in a dark cool place (why didn’t I just say pantry?—btw “alacena” in Spanish)

Taste it from time to time. We found that there isn’t really a rule of thumb on sitting time.  Some things yield their magic quicker than others. For this particular tincture, we left the peppercorns in the bottle and one-year into it, still good.

Some of Many Uses:

 Water  (no kidding)

Water + citrus

Cocktails (bien sûre!)

Agua Fresca de Piña (Blog post: June 23 2020)

And much more.