Today's consumers are craving bold, sensory food experiences, and SFA member 50Hertz Tingly Foods is answering the call. With products centered around the vibrant, citrusy tingle of Sichuan pepper, the brand is helping define a new flavor category: aromatic, expressive, and alive with a signature buzz. From oils and snacks to unexpected collaborations in chocolate, 50Hertz is bringing a beloved ingredient into new contexts and leaning into consumers’ appetite for feel-forward eating. In a new interview, Yao Zhao, Founder and Chief Tingle Officer at 50Hertz, shares the story behind the brand, the momentum from their recent pitch contest win, and their vision for making tingly a new buzzy “flavor category” in the specialty market.
You just won our pre-show virtual pitch contest—congrats! What was that experience like, and what was the most helpful feedback you received?
Thank you! It was such an encouraging experience for us. As a small, bootstrapped brand built around a very specific ingredient — Sichuan pepper — it means a lot when people understand the bigger vision behind what we’re doing.
The most helpful feedback was that the “tingly” sensation is not just a novelty; it is a real sensory experience that can help define a new flavor category. That reminded us to keep communicating Sichuan pepper in a way that is simple, approachable, and exciting: not spicy, just tingly.
We’re so excited you’ll be exhibiting at the 2026 Summer Fancy Food Show. Why should buyers, press, and other attendees who will be at the show visit the 50Hertz Tingly Foods booth?
Visitors should come to our booth if they want to experience something truly different. Sichuan pepper is one of the world’s most fascinating ingredients — citrusy, aromatic, gently numbing, and visually gorgeous — but many people in the U.S. still haven’t experienced it in a clear, delicious, approachable way.
At our booth, people can taste the tingle across several formats, from our Green Sichuan Pepper Oil to our Tingly Sichuan Pepper Cashews and Peanuts, to salt and chocolate. It is a great way to understand how this ingredient can work in snacks, pantry items, beverages, desserts, and beyond.
Your brand feels deeply aligned with SFA’s 2026 Trend of the Year, SenseMaxxing, which says “goodbye boring beige and hello full-on feeling.” Why do you think consumers are looking for the tingly sensations your products like Green Sichuan Pepper Oil and Tingly Sichuan Pepper Cashews create?
I think consumers are looking for food that feels more alive. Some people really love to "feel" something in their food. For a long time, flavor innovation in the U.S. has often centered around heat — hotter sauces, hotter chips, hotter snacks. Sichuan pepper offers something different. It is not about burning your mouth; it is about creating a citrusy, electric sensation that wakes up the palate.
That is why we often say: not spicy, just tingly. It gives people a new way to experience food — through aroma, texture, and sensation, not just taste. In a world where consumers are increasingly curious and adventurous, Sichuan pepper feels very timely.
Your Herbaceous Green Tingly Dark Chocolate—a collaboration with Goodnow Farms—takes that sensation into a completely different category. What inspired you to pair Sichuan pepper with chocolate, and what surprised you most about how those flavors interact?
That collaboration started very organically. Goodnow Farms discovered our Green Sichuan Peppers and immediately saw the potential. Green Sichuan pepper has an incredibly bright, herbaceous, almost citrus-floral aroma, and it pairs beautifully with the complexity of the fine 70% Peruvian dark chocolate they use for this collaboration.
What surprised me most was how elegant the pairing became. The Sichuan pepper does not overpower the chocolate. Instead, it lifts it — adding a gentle aromatic brightness and a lingering tingle that makes the chocolate feel more expressive. It showed us that Sichuan pepper can go far beyond savory cooking.
We are celebrating AAPI Heritage Month in May! How does your background shape your choice of ingredients and the way you work with flavors?
I was born and raised in Chongqing, China, where Sichuan pepper is part of everyday life. It is not an exotic ingredient to me; it is deeply connected to memory, place, and home. Starting 50Hertz has been a way to share that part of my background with a wider audience, while also showing that Chinese flavors can be modern, versatile, and full of possibility.
Now living and building this in the United States, I see how those flavors translate and evolve in a different context, which pushes me not to freeze the ingredient in tradition. We respect where Sichuan pepper comes from, but we also want to see what else it can become — in snacks, chocolate, cocktails, beer, and modern American kitchens. That bridge between heritage and creativity is really at the heart of the brand.
Looking ahead, what’s next for 50Hertz Tingly Foods? Are there new products, formats, or even new ways of delivering that signature “buzz” that buyers should be watching for?
We are very excited about expanding the world of “tingly” foods. Our Tingly Sichuan Pepper Cashews are a big focus this year — they are buttery, aromatic, and unlike anything else on the snack shelf. We are also continuing to grow our foodservice line with premium Sichuan peppers and oils used by chefs across the country.
Beyond products, we’re also experimenting with more creative ways to bring the brand to life. We’ve been sponsoring community events — including mahjong gatherings (“málà for mahjong”) — and expanding into new channels like corporate offices and bar snacks, where the tingly sensation pairs especially well with drinks and social settings.
Looking further ahead, we are exploring additional formats and applications — from new snack innovations to ingredient solutions for chefs and food manufacturers. Our bigger vision is to make Sichuan pepper a pantry staple and help build a broader tingly food category in the U.S.
Don't miss 50Hertz Tingly Foods at the 2026 Summer Fancy Food Show! Visit Booth #7217 to experience Sichuan pepper in ways that are fresh, versatile, and full of possibility. Learn more about the brand and explore their products on their website.