Veggie of the Week - Epazote
sponsored by Coleman Farms

Encouraged by warmer weather, Epazote has returned to the market. A favorite of Mexican cooks, Epazote is one of a number of things that grow along fences or beside the road and are shunned by most other animals.

The strong diesel/creosote smell of Epazote vanishes when cooked, and the herb serves to intensify other flavors rather than assert its own. Traditionally used when cooking dried beans, chilaquiles and in quesadillas - a corn tortilla, a bit of cheese, several Epazote leaves and some crushed chili heated on the comal - it will also distinguish a grilled cheese sandwich. When using epazote with beans or in soup or stew, add it toward the end of cooking, otherwise most of the flavor will boil off.

In traditional medicine the herb, and particularly the seeds, are used as a vermifuge. Epazote must not be used during pregnancy nor lactation.

Available at Friday and Saturday markets from Coleman Farms, and possibly from Earth Trine Farms (Saturday).