Isn't it cool having friends that live in other countries??? Like the ones that are close enough to you that when they come home to visit, you are among the small group of friends that they bring home gifts for as well. Well I have a few friends that fit into that category.
One of them came home this weekend from Beijing, my small gift bag included different varieties of teas and several spices not sold here in the states. The one that I really want to make something with tonight, but not sure if I should, is called "hwa jee ow." Good luck pronouncing that one people, as my friend David had trouble putting it into an English form that I could spell for others. I will end up doing more research on this stuff as the day goes on, but his wife told me it was typically used with pork as a seasoning if you were to braise the pork.
These things look like peppercorns, dark red in color and most of them are split open and softer then the peppercorns we have here. Before telling me what this particular spice tastes like or even does, I took a few and put them into my mouth...I wish I could tell you what the taste reminds me of, but I got nothing. Except...within 30 seconds my mouth went numb. Not from being too spicy for me, I'm the Mad Chef, ask me to eat a habenero and I'll eat two.
My mouth went numb people...no wonder this thing is illegal to sell here in the states. This will be a cool toy later down the line, and I have almost a pound of the stuff to play around with before I ever try to put it onto a plate. But for now I will stick with treating a few friends here and there to a very wild experience while I experiment with the flavors and its usage. Eventually I'll concoct some sort of dish featuring this spice, but one thing is for sure, it had to be the coolest bit of food I had tasted in a while.
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