Dear Goanetters, In August if you have ever gone for the "Bonderam'chem fest"[ Festival of Flags] on the island of Divar [Malar or Piedade villages],and experienced a shot from the 'fotas'[ bamboo pipe gun] on your nape, you need no further introduction to the Tirphal,Teifol,Tephdam,Chirphal,Szchewan pepper or Limao pimentose. That's it.
Botanically, the tree and the spice is known as Zanthoxylum rhetsa. This genus/species belongs to the family Rutaceae which includes limes,lemons,oranges and Bael[Bael patri,Bel fov,Sriphal,Bel,Bilva]. It is called Szchewan pepper because of the flavour;it does not belong to the Piperaceae family as the blackpepper and betel leaf. The Portuguese name is perhaps more indicative: Limao=lemon; pimentose=pungent,chilli like. If you have enjoyed "udda methi" a mackeral curry with this spice, you are unlikely to forget it. Some restaurants in Panaji specially make this curry[coconut+chilli+turmeric+tirphal+mackeral fish] during the tourist season. The tree has stout thorns along the main trunk and is easy to recognise .Common in Goa and the Konkan;commonly known and used spice. Enjoy the teifol --- in the 'fotas' or in the curry! Viva Goa. Miguel > From: "Helga do Rosario Gomes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Re: [Goanet]spice > Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2003 17:29:30 -0400 > Hi Agnelo, > Isn't this 'Tephdam'? Highly aromatic little green balls that are dried and > used in the traditional Goa curry? I didn't know it was a relative of pepper. --Helga > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Agnelo Mascarenhas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Goanet]spice > > "In India, cooks sometimes use another relative of* sichuan pepper* with slightly larger capsules (Z. rhetsa = Z. limonella); its usage is mostly restricted to India's West coast (Gujrat, Maharashtra, Goa), where it is used for fish dishes." > http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Zant_pip.html agnelo --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.524 / Virus Database: 321 - Release Date: 10/6/2003 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
