Andaliman

• andaliman

  Batak Toba — North Sumatra

• merica batak

  Indonesian

  Merica is the word for black pepper, and "Batak pepper" invites the assumption that andaliman is a Piper. It is a Zanthoxylum, the genus of Sichuan pepper, and it numbs rather than burns.

Sharp citrus and a warm, peppery edge, followed by a tingling numbness on the lips and tongue that builds and lingers.

Intensely citric — lime, lemongrass and citronella — with a green, resinous edge. The citrus is louder than in any other Zanthoxylum in this catalogue.

Small green berries on the stalk when fresh, darkening to reddish brown when dried.

Small firm berries with a hard black seed that is gritty if left whole; they are crushed rather than eaten intact.

• Geranyl acetate — The largest single constituent of the aroma extract in the analysis most often cited — a sweet, floral-citrus ester.
• Limonene — The citrus-peel note, present in quantity and among the compounds judged most important to the smell.(what limonene is)
• Citronellal — The citronella and lemongrass note, identified by smell-based analysis as one of the most potent aroma compounds despite being present in smaller amounts.

Strip fresh berries from the stalk and crush them in a mortar with shallot, garlic and chilli. For a substitute, Sichuan pepper with finely grated lime zest and a little lemongrass gives the tingle and some of the citrus.

The defining seasoning of Batak cooking in North Sumatra: arsik, naniura, sambal andaliman and saksang. It is used with fish and pork, with turmeric and torch ginger, and with chilli, and almost nowhere outside the Batak repertoire.

• grinding — Crushed fresh in a mortar with chilli, shallot and garlic for sambal andaliman and for the arsik paste. Crushing is what releases the citrus; whole berries give up little.
• boiling — Simmered in arsik, where the citrus mellows into the turmeric braise and the tingle survives. Long boiling dulls the top notes.

Crush a berry. Good andaliman smells loudly of lime at once and tingles on the lip within seconds; old dried berries smell dusty and barely numb.

• Little citrus on crushing
• Weak tingle
• Mould on fresh clusters

• Volatilisation of the citrus terpenes
• Oxidation of limonene to flatter notes

Rutaceae

A thorny shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves and prickly stems, bearing clusters of small round fruits that ripen from green to red and split to show a black seed.

The genus ranges across the Himalaya, southern China and mainland Southeast Asia; the culinary tradition, and the harvest that supplies it, belong to the highlands around Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

• Indonesia (North Sumatra, around Lake Toba) — origin. Essentially the whole culinary supply, much of it gathered from wild and semi-managed shrubs.

Clusters picked green, while the aroma is at its brightest, and sold fresh on the stem in Batak markets.

1. Picking — Fruit clusters cut from the thorny branches while still green.
2. Stripping — Berries rubbed from the stalks; the thorny twig fragments are picked out.
3. Drying, for keeping — Where it is not used fresh it is dried, which extends its life and costs it much of its citrus aroma.Why: The fresh berry does not keep, and the supply is seasonal.

Largely gathered from wild or semi-managed plants rather than grown in plantations, which keeps supply small and seasonal.

Cool, wet highland — the plant grows on the slopes above Lake Toba at elevations where lowland tropical spices do not.

Fresh or frozen if you can get it, whole dried if you cannot, and crush it yourself just before use. Ground andaliman loses its citrus almost immediately.

• Fresh green berries on the stalk where available, or frozen.
• Dried berries that still smell of citrus when crushed.
• Few twig fragments and thorns among dried berries.

A regional spice sold fresh in North Sumatran markets and dried to Batak communities elsewhere in Indonesia. International trade is minimal.