Grow your own Mexican herbs
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By Emma Cooper
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Mexican food is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world, and many people want to learn how to get authentic Mexican flavors at home. For gardeners, that journey may start with growing their own ingredients – including tomatoes, garlic, chillies, corn and beans. This article looks at four Mexican herbs that you can grow yourself – two that will be familiar and two that will be indispensable to Mexican food aficionados.
Cilantro
Cilantro (AKA coriander) is a key herb in Mexican cooking, lending a distinctive flavour to salsas and other dishes. It is best used fresh, so sow seeds regularly from spring to fall to guarantee a continuous supply. Cilantro won’t survive a frost, but it can be brought indoors through the winter. Alternatively, harvest plenty of leaves in the fall and freeze them into ice cubes for a fresh cilantro taste all year round.
You want your plants to grow quickly, so remember to keep them well fed and watered. Once they start to flower, throw them on the compost heap and start harvesting from the next batch.
For a really authentic salsa, use tomatillos in place of tomatoes. Tomatillos are as easy to grow as tomatoes, have a tangy taste and can be eaten raw or cooked. In most climates, tomatillo seeds need to be sown indoors so that the plants can be transplanted into a sunny spot outdoors after the risk of frost has passed. Tomatillo plants require support, but you don’t have to pinch out side shoots as you would for tomatoes. Harvest the fruits when their paper husks feel papery.
Spearmint
Known as hierba buena, spearmint has many uses in Mexican cooking. It is often used to flavour chicken soup (Caldo de pollo), as well as being used for mint tea and cold beverages.
Spearmint is an easy plant to grow, in fact it can become invasive and is best kept contained. A mint garden in pots outside the kitchen door is handy, but if you want to grow your spearmint in the ground then consider planting it inside a bottomless pot to prevent it from spreading too far.
Container-grown mints need to be divided and re-potted in fall, which is an excellent opportunity to bring a pot inside for use during the winter.
Epazote
Epazote is a true Mexican native, also known as pigweed and Mexican tea. Its pungent leaves are used fresh or dried, but are known to be an acquired taste. Epazote is commonly used to flavour bean dishes, added for the last few minutes of cooking time, and has the added bonus of helping to reduce flatulence.
Epazote is a bushy perennial herb with dark green, serrated leaves. It is a vigorous plant, easily grown from seed, and has the potential to become invasive. For this reason it is often grown in containers to restrict its spread. One or two plants should be enough for most families, and can grow up to 4 feet tall.
Papalo
Papalo grows wild in Mexico, and is also called papaloquelite or Bolivian coriander. Less well known than epazote, it is another strongly flavoured herb. Leaves are only used fresh, either added raw to tacos and salsas, or added at the last minute to cooked dishes.
Papalo is an annual plant, grown from seed. It appreciates a sunny position and well-drained soil. A large plant, it needs a spacing of 2 feet and grows up to 6 feet tall with purple/ bronze flowers.
Epazote and papalo are both from Central Mexico. You should have no trouble finding seeds or plants if you shop around. There are many other Mexican herbs (each region has its own favourites) that you can explore if you really have the bug. Always remember to source unfamiliar plants from a reputable supplier and to be sure of its identification before you eat it.
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Author Bio Box: Emma Cooper
Emma Cooper has a weekly gardening podcast, The Alternative Kitchen Garden, all about growing your own food in an environmentally friendly way. Check out her website for her gardening blog and more articles.
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