Mexican Pepperleaf

About

This is a herb, a member of the pepper family, leaves are chopped and used in flavoring or used whole in meats and tamales, etc. Aromatic and pleasant, loosely reminiscent to anise, nutmeg and black pepper. The flavour is strongest in the young stems and veins, which have additionally a pleasant warming pungency

Information

Other names: Sacred pepper, Piper sanctum, Eared pepper, Root beer plant

Translations: Meksikas Pepperleaf, Meksikos Pepperleaf, Meksički Pepperleaf, Mexico Pepperleaf, Mexicaanse Pepperleaf, मैक्सिकन Pepperleaf, Mexicanos Pepperleaf, Мексиканские Pepperleaf, Μεξικάνικη Pepperleaf, المكسيكي Pepperleaf, 멕시코 Pepperleaf, Mexická Pepperleaf, Meksiko Pepperleaf, Mehikano Pepperleaf, 墨西哥Pepperleaf, Mèxic Pepperleaf, Mehiški Pepperleaf, Mexická Pepperleaf, Messicano Pepperleaf, מקסיקני Pepperleaf, Mexikos Pepperleaf, Мексички Пепперлеаф, メキシコPepperleaf, Mexique Pepperleaf, Mexicanske Pepperleaf, Meksikansk Pepperleaf, México Pepperleaf, Мексиканські Pepperleaf, Meksikon Pepperleaf, Мексикански Pepperleaf

Physical Description

Large aromatic heart-shaped tropical foliage with a rootbeer like fragrance when crushed.

Colors: Green

Tasting Notes

Flavors: spicy

Substitutes: Mexican tarragon, French tarragon

Selecting and Buying

Buying: Since dried or fresh leaves are hard to get outside of tropical México, cooks often will need a substitute for Mexican pepper leaves. The best option is to grow the plant, which turns out rather decorative and surprisingly robust.

Preparation and Use

It is often used in Mexican cuisine for tamales, the fish or meat wrapped in fragrant leaves for cooking, and as an essential ingredient in mole verde, the green sauce originated in the Oaxaca region of Mexico.It is also chopped to flavor soups, such as pozole, and eggs.In Central Mexico, it is used to flavor chocolate drinks. In southeastern Mexico, a green liquor called Verdín is made from hoja santa. While typically used fresh, it is also used in dried form, although drying removes much of the flavor and makes the leaf too brittle to be used as a wrapper.