In 2022, the year of bumper crop of green sichuan pepper(Zanthoxylum armatum DC), our inspection team went deep into the harvesting base of green sihcuan pepper to examine the cultivation and harvesting of green sichuan pepper in terms of planting, primary processing and storage to assess the food safety level of green sichuan pepper raw materials.
By mid-September 2022, the new season of green sichuan pepper is now over. 2020 total production of green sichuan pepper is about 30,000 tons, 2021 total production of green sichuan pepper is about 25,000 tons. 2022 is expected to reach 37,500 tons, 2022 is a good harvest year, compared to 2021 production year-on-year growth of 50%, 2020 production year-on-year growth of 25%.
Green sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum armatum DC) is a genus of sichuan pepper in the family Rutaceae. The skin is lime green to dark green, the inner is light green or light yellow, the flesh is thick and large, the fruit is fragrant and pure, and the lemon fragrance is obvious.
Green sichuan pepper is mainly produced in Mianyang City, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, and Jiangjin District, Chongqing City, i.e., the hilly areas at 300-500 m altitude, 104°45′-106°21′ E, 29°30′-31°20′ N.
There are 8 important periods in a growth cycle, which are bud emergence period (July-September), pulling period (September-December), budding period (January-February), germination period (mid-late February), flowering period (February-March), expansion period (May-June), oil gland growth period (June-mid-July), and harvesting maturity period (June-July).
Irrigation: Yellow loam, yellow mud and other soils with good flat slopes need to build drainage ditches for drainage and do not need irrigation. Sloping land, planting depth is shallow and weak water retention capacity of the soil, the need for reasonable irrigation according to the weather conditions of garcinia cambogia, irrigation water sources are tap water and pond water.
Seedling: Scrub the selected sichuan pepper seeds with alkaline water to remove the protective film on the surface, and use the seeds for concentrated seedling cultivation after spring, and then transplant the disease-free and harmless seedlings to the planting site after the seedlings have grown for 1 year.
Fertilization cycle: 1-2 times/year, mostly in spring and autumn.
Fertilizer type: compound fertilizer, organic fertilizer, methane.
Fertilization method: spreading method (spreading along the pepper tree drip line outside the range) .
Fertilization amount: about 1kg/plant/time
Application: The number and type of application depends on the local planting situation. Pesticides are divided into four categories according to pests and diseases: insecticides, fungicides, molluscicides, acaricides, etc. In addition to the prevention of pests and diseases, seedlings need to be sprayed with growth regulators, the purpose of which is to accelerate the growth of seedlings (elongated branches, leaf preservation, etc.) and bring a bumper crop of peppers in the following year.
Application types: Chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid, buthiocarb, abamectin, carbendazim, rock-sulfur compound, etc.
Application methods: drone spraying, vehicle spraying, manual spraying (including backpack sprayer, backpack electric sprayer, pre-built pipe spraying) and other methods. Meanwhile, the introduction of natural enemies (complementary predatory mites) and physical insecticide (insecticidal lights) are also green insecticide methods for pest prevention in some bases.
Harvesting: Green sichuan pepper is generally harvested from June, when the sky is clear, by hand, the green sichuan pepper from the main stem on the root of the branches 5-10cm with branches cut off, and pruned to the appropriate length with woven bags wrapped back to the drying box.
◭ Steps: remove water → drying → primary sieving → storage → trading
1. Remove water: pick the sichuan pepper under the flowers, first put the sichuan pepper in the wind box to air dry 4-8 hours, followed by drying.
2. Drying: Green sichuan pepper is mainly dried by baking, its base is mainly methanol, electricity, bio-pellets, natural gas as the main fuel. A few areas still insist on baking with coal, coal combustion will cause air pollution, baked sichuan pepper also has the risk of coal dust pollution, benzopyrene, sulfur dioxide residues exceed the standard. (Fresh to dry ratio: 5:1)
3. Preliminary sieving: The dried green sichuan pepper is loaded into the drum fruit branch separator to separate the large branches and stems of pepper by stirring. The initial separation out of the green sichuan pepper again through the sichuan pepper screening machine to separate out most of the green sichuan pepper thorns, leaves and sichuan pepper seeds.
4. Storage: Storage conditions (cold storage: -10-0 ℃) , dry and protected from light and cold storage, insect and rodent proof and moisture proof.
5. Packaging: Woven bag + inner film
◭ There are two main food safety risks associated with the growth and processing of green sichuan peppers.
1. Pesticide residues: Green sichuan pepper is used many times in the planting process to prevent pests and diseases, usually using a variety of pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid, butylthiocarb, abamectin, carbendazim, rock sulfur compound. The base is currently cooperating with the agricultural station, scientific management of planting, greatly reducing the risk of pesticide residues.
2. Dry process risk: coal baking can easily lead to excessive sulfur dioxide residues in sichuan pepper, and whether it is electric baking or coal baking, after repeated baking on the stainless steel mesh tray will be residual sichuan pepper grease, long time after high temperature heating will produce benzopyrene and other harmful substances. In addition, the sichuan pepper with leaves directly to bake, there will be snails, branches and other foreign objects involved in the risk.
