After trying a new chinese restaurant I had some really good dishes that were full of these szechuan peppercorns. They have a tingling effect that is described as another taste - in addition to salty, spicy, sour, umami, sweet, bitter, etc.
Recently I've realized that some citrus has the same tingling effect. Nagami kumquats are the most prominent, but even mandarins do this if they are still at least slightly sour.
Wikipedia says szechuan pepper plant is in the rutacae family, same as citrus. I wonder if the same chemical (Hydroxy alpha sanshool) is responsible? Or if this is a property of anything sour. I don't really remmeber this happening from sour candy or other non-citrus sour food.
