Szechuan button (brède mafane) ✦

Brède mafane (cresson de Para)

What it is

The tingle is spilanthol, an alkylamide that fires the touch and salivary nerves rather than the taste buds — Brazilian dentists used the plant for toothache long before chefs bought it by the bud. In Madagascar the leaves and flower heads go into romazava, where the numbness is the point of the dish rather than a trick played on the diner.

In the kitchen

A quarter of a flower head per person is the working dose; a whole one floods the mouth and blanks the palate for several minutes. Cooking softens the tingle but never removes it, so serve nothing delicate alongside — and no wine you care about.

Goes with

Beef Spinach Tomato Onion Ginger Rice Watercress

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