How to Make Sansho Pickled in Soy SauceA Seasoning from Fresh Early-Summer Sansho Berries

Sansho is the Japanese pepper, a relative of Sichuan pepper with a citrusy aroma and a tingling, numbing heat. In early summer, the fresh green berries (mi-zansho) appear for a few weeks, and pickling them in soy sauce is a favorite way to keep them.

Spoon it over chilled tofu or sashimi for a tingly, grown-up kick.

The recipe is simple. If you can get fresh sansho, give it a try. Outside Japan, fresh berries are rare; you may find them frozen at Japanese grocery stores.

When to make	June (fresh sansho season)
Ready	After 1 week
Storage	Fridge

Ingredients and tools

• 50 g (1¾ oz) fresh sansho berries
• 1 tsp salt
• 100 ml (scant ½ cup) soy sauce
• A small zip-top bag
• A bowl
• A colander
• Paper towels

How to make it

Wash

Put the sansho in a bowl and rinse quickly in plenty of water. Drain in a colander.

Remove the branches

Pull the berries off the branches. They come off easily by hand. The little stems on each berry can stay.

Boil

Bring water to a boil and add the salt and sansho. Boil over medium heat for 7–8 minutes. They’re done when they’re soft enough to crush between your fingers.

Remove the bitterness

Drain in a colander and soak in cold water for 1 hour to remove the bitterness.

Dry them

Drain in a colander and carefully pat thoroughly dry with paper towels.

Pickle

Put the sansho in the zip-top bag and pour in the soy sauce. Press out the air and seal.

Keep it in the fridge. It’s ready after about a week.

After a week. The lovely scent of sansho rises from the bag.

Spooned over yellowtail sashimi for a tingly kick. It’s also a great match for chilled tofu, somen, and rice with whitebait.

Chilled tofu with sansho soy sauce.

Scattered over rice topped with shirasu (whitebait) as an accent.

The slippery smoothness of somen with the fresh tingle of sansho is perfect.