Hoja santa ✦

Hoja santa (feuille sainte)

What it is

The aroma is safrole, the compound that once flavoured sassafras root beer and that American regulators pulled from the market in 1960 — the leaf itself has stayed a daily herb across southern Mexico throughout. Piper auritum is a true pepper relative, and grows leaves the size of a dinner plate.

In the kitchen

Use the leaf as the vessel: wrap fish or fresh cheese in it and the aroma transfers through the steam without the leaf being eaten. Blended into a green mole, strip out the thick central vein first or the sauce turns stringy and bitter.

Goes with

Goat cheese Tomatillo Corn Pumpkin seed Sea bass Epazote

Same species

Ashanti pepper Black pepper Cubeb pepper Green peppercorn Lolot leaf Long pepper

In season alongside

Basil Angelica Hojiso (shiso flower spikes) Holy basil Kkaennip (Korean perilla leaf) Nepitella

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