Thank you all for your comments... Lapsi is available in many asian countries like china, vietnam etc. Jyapoo, मौसम or Mausam is what they sell in the US as oranges and has diff varieties... it has exactly similar features as our tangerines (सुन्तला) but little sour. Whoareyou, you are right about different kinds of sichuan pepper...or Szechwan Pepper Zanthoxylum piperitum but Nepalese timmur is Zanthoxylum Alatum not Zanthoxylum piperitum... Timbur can be used in any अचार including sauce for momo...

BTW I'm not expert neither in fruits nor in spices...just trying to build a collection of available fruits/spices in nepal... all of yours participation is appreciated

Timbur=टिम्बुर or Timur=टिम्मुर‍ or Tejbal in Hindi or Zanthoxylum Alatum or Sichuan Pepper or Sezchuan peppar in Swedish, Ma lar & Mak kak in Thai, Dang cay & Sen gai Vietnamese
Four types of culinary sichuan pepper: Upper left Nepali timur (Zanthoxylum alatum), upper right Indonesian andaliman (Z. acanthopodium), lower left Indian tirphal (Z. rhetsa), lower right Chinese jiao (Z. piperitum/simulans) (200 dpi scan). Nepal's timbur is Zanthoxylum alatum
Origin The term ?sichuan pepper? refers to a spice obtained form a group of closely related plants of genus Zanthoxylum. In Asia, most representatives of this genus are found in the Himalaya region, furthermore in Central, South, South East and East Asia. American and African Zanthoxylum species have not yet been put to culinary use. The most important species are: Z. piperitum DC = Z. sansho (Central and Eastern China, Japan, Korea), Z. simulans Hance = Z. bungei (China, Taiwan), Z. bungeanum Max. (China), Z. schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. (China, Korea), Z. nitidum Roxb (DC) (China, peninsular South East Asia), Z. rhetsa Pierre var. budranga Pier. = Z. limonella (Western North India, peninsular South East Asia), Z. armatum DC = Z. alatum Roxb. (Himalaya, peninsular South East Asia, East Asia), Z. avicennae (Lamk) DC = Z. tidorense (China, peninsular South East Asia, Indonesia) and Z. acanthopodium DC (eastern Himalaya, China, peninsular South East Asia, Sumatra). All species mentioned here have their place in local cuisines and can (excepting Z. schinifolium) mostly be used interchangeably. Literature often gives contradicting information which spice is used where; furthermore, Zanthoxylum is a difficult genus with many different, similar and not well-researched species. Sensory quality The dried fruits of sichuan pepper and its relatives have an aromatic odour that, for most species, can be described as lemon-like, with more or less pronounced warm and woodsy overtones. Some of the species have deviating flavour, e.g., Z. alatum (spicy) Z. alatum, a species growing in the Himalayas and figuring prominent in Tibeti and Nepali cooking, is reported to contain mostly linalool (more than 50%), further limonene, methyl cinnamate and cineol. (Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 16, 408, 2001) (Journal of Essential Oil Research, 10, 127, 1998) Culinary Uses Originating from the Szechwan province of China, Szechwan pepper is associated with dishes from that region which feature hotter and spicier cooking than the rest of China. Duck and chicken dishes in particular work well with the spice. Hua jiao yen is a mixture of salt and Szechwan pepper, roasted and browned in a wok and served as a condiment to accompany chicken, duck and pork dishes. Star anise and ginger are often used with it and figures prominently in Szechwan cuisine. Szechwan pepper is one of the few spices important for Tibetan and Bhutani cookery of the Himalayas, because few spices can be grown there. The national dish of Tibet are momos, a pasta stuffed with yak and flavoured with Szechwan pepper, garlic, ginger and onion. The noodles are steemed and served dry, together with a fiery chile sauce. In Japan the dried and powdered leaves of the same species of prickly ash is known as sansho and used to make noodle dishes and soups mildly hot and fragrant. The whole leaves, kinome, are used to flavour vegetables, especially bamboo shoots, and to decorate soups. Szechwan pepper is an ingredient in Chinese five-spice powder and shichimi togarashi, a Japanese seven-flavour seasoning. (sources:http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/szechuan.html
http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/szechuan.html

Banned from the U.S. The following information is taken from an article on NYTimes.com - Sichuan Foods Signature Fire Is Becoming Hard to Find February 4, 2004 By DENISE LANDIS

In 1968, the U.S. Agriculture Department prohibited the import of all plants and products of the citrus family, of which the Sichuan peppercorn is a member, because they could carry a canker that destroys citrus trees. The ban was not strictly enforced before a revision of the department's manual for field inspectors specified that the ban applied to Sichuan peppercorns (Zanthoxylum simulans) and the Sansho peppercorns (Zanthoxylum piperitum) used in Japanese cooking. The canker is caused by bacteria that are harmless to humans but possibly contagious among members of the citrus family. It is spread by physical contact. There is no known chemical treatment for the disease, and both infected trees and those nearby must be destroyed. But while it is known that the prickly ash shrub, which grows in China, Japan and North Korea, carries the canker, department officials could not point to any scientific study or research that showed that the dried peppercorns carried it. "Unfortunately, the popular Sichuan peppercorn is banned from import into the United States due to its classification in the citrus family," Dore Mobley, a spokeswoman for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a statement. When asked whether there had ever been a case of peppercorns contaminating citrus trees since the ban was imposed in 1968, Ms. Mobley did not point to any. "Citrus canker poses a significant threat to not only citrus in Florida, but citrus in California, Texas and Arizona as well," she said in the statement. "Therefore an across-the-board ban on citrus from specific countries known to have the disease is the cornerstone of our efforts to protect U.S. agriculture." In early 2004, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service approved a treatment to kill the canker by heating the peppercorns to 140 degrees. But that changes their quality and character. No other treatment, including irradiation, kills the canker. ******************************* Sichuan Food's Signature Fire Is Becoming Hard to Find Wonder if obtaining some of this from Canada might be a useful project for the attendees of the next Hot Foods Party. February 4, 2004 Sichuan Food's Signature Fire Is Becoming Hard to Find By DENISE LANDIS FIRE is a not unfamiliar sensation in food. Cuisines all over the world get a zap from chili peppers in dozens of guises. But there's nothing like the numbing sparkle that the food of Sichuan gets from the Sichuan peppercorn ? huajiao, as it is called there. "You can't cook Sichuan food without huajiao," said Wang Dinggeng, the chef at Grand Sichuan International on Second Avenue. "You can't get that special ma la flavor," he said of the peppercorns' numbing (ma) and burning (la) effects. But will the tingle be around for much longer? In 1968, the Agriculture Department prohibited the import of all plants and products of the citrus family, of which the Sichuan peppercorn is a member, because they could carry a canker that destroys citrus trees. The ban was not strictly enforced before a revision of the department's manual for field inspectors, after the canker had begun to devastate citrus crops in Florida. The revision specified that the ban applied to Sichuan peppercorns (Zanthoxylum simulans) and the Sansho peppercorns (Zanthoxylum piperitum) used in Japanese cooking. The canker is caused by bacteria that are harmless to humans but highly contagious among members of the citrus family. It is spread by physical contact. There is no known chemical treatment for the disease, and both infected trees and those nearby must be destroyed. But while it is known that the prickly ash shrub, which grows in China, Japan and North Korea, carries the canker, department officials could not point to any scientific study or research that showed that the dried peppercorns carried it. "Unfortunately, the popular Sichuan peppercorn is banned from import into the United States due to its classification in the citrus family," Dore Mobley, a spokeswoman for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a statement. When asked whether there had ever been a case of peppercorns contaminating citrus trees since the ban was imposed in 1968, Ms. Mobley did not point to any. "Citrus canker poses a significant threat to not only citrus in Florida, but citrus in California, Texas and Arizona as well," she said in the statement. "Therefore an across-the-board ban on citrus from specific countries known to have the disease is the cornerstone of our efforts to protect U.S. agriculture." Read more at http://www.livejournal.com/users/r_ness/36796.html *************************** ripe Timbur fruits: