Spilanthol
Also written affinin
Quick answer
The alkylamide that makes jambu buzz and numb the mouth — a structural relative of the sanshools in Sichuan pepper, and not the same compound.
What it does
Spilanthol gives a tingling, fizzing, salivating numbness that starts on the tongue and lips within seconds of chewing a jambu leaf or flower bud, strongest in the flower. The sensation is recognisably in the same family as Sichuan pepper’s, and the two compounds are structurally related fatty-acid amides. The resemblance ends there as far as SpiceHQ can state: the receptor mechanism established for the sanshools — blocking a family of potassium channels on touch-sensitive nerves — has not been established for spilanthol, and is not assumed.
How it behaves when cooked
Four properties of the molecule, and what they mean at the stove.
- Volatility
- low
- Fat solubility
- high
- Water solubility
- low
- Heat stability
- moderate
Not volatile, so the effect of jambu is felt rather than smelled, and it survives the brief cooking the leaves get in tucupi broth. Its poor solubility in water is why the tingle stays in the leaves and buds rather than spreading through the broth: the numbness comes from chewing the greens, and a cook who strains them out removes most of the effect. Prolonged boiling softens the sensation, which is why jambu goes in near the end.
Spices that carry it
Recorded on the compound rather than on each spice, so the two cannot disagree.
- JambuPrincipal component
Concentrated in the flower heads, which is why the buds are prized over the leaves.
Not to be confused with
Compounds a reader is likely to take for this one, and why they differ.
Hydroxy-α-sanshool
The tingle of Sichuan pepper and sanshō. Both are alkylamides and both numb; the potassium-channel mechanism is established for the sanshool and not for spilanthol, and the two plants are unrelated.
Questions this page answers
- what makes jambu numb your mouth
- what is spilanthol
- spilanthol vs sanshool