[{"document_url": "https://natureinjapan.wordpress.com/about/diverse-habitats-biomes/plant-paradise-japanese-prickly-ash-sansho/", "unformatted_src": "https://i1.wp.com/i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd190/askkawagoe/PricklyAshSansho.jpg", "src": "https://i1.wp.com/i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd190/askkawagoe/PricklyAshSansho.jpg", "formatted_filename": "PricklyAshSansho", "alt_text": "Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"}, null]
Japanese Prickly Ash / Zanthoxylum piperitum / sansho (Japanese)

In mid-autumn, the small tree known as sansho or Japanese prickly ash (Zanthoxylum piperitum) , produces red berries. As they ripen they turn brown and split to reveal shiny black seeds. Traditionally, the seeds are ground with a mortar made from prickly ash wood, and this produces one of the few spices used in Japanese cuisine. The resulting sansho pepper is pungent with a lemony tang, and it is popular sprinkled over unagi (grilled eel). The tender spring leaves are also aromatic and make attractive garnishes for dishes such as goma-dofu (sesame tofu). However, there is a spectacular insect that also finds the leaves tasty. The beautiful swallowtail butterfly often lays its eggs on prickly ash shrubs, so at this time of year you might find large, bright-green caterpillars steadily munching their way through the last of the autumn leaves. They are very neat eaters, and can pick the small leaflets clean, leavingjust the prickly veins behind. Last year I found several of these caterpillars on a small prickly ash tree, and one day, around the end of October, I watched one of them attach itself to the spiny tree trunk with a silk thread. A few minutes later it started to change color, and soon it became a chrysalis, well camouflaged against the rough bark where it would sleep the whole winter through.

The Japan Times: Oct. 21, 2004
(C) All rights reserved












