Sichuan button

If you like to be right there with the new fad food, got a few Sichuan buttons to chew on. Here’s how Thomas Rogers describes it on Salon:

The full Sichuan button experience comes in three stages: first, a grassy taste, followed by a tingling and numbing sensation, then salivation, and, finally a fresh, clean finish. (It’s usually broken up into smaller pieces in cooking.)

Many uses, such as flavoring chewing tobacco, relieving toothaches and stomach ailments, and treating blood parasites.