EpazoteDysphania ambrosioides

Did you know?

• The Nahuatl epazotl joins epatl, "skunk," and tzotl, "sweat," which makes epazote, quite literally, "skunk sweat"^{[2, 3, 4]}.

• Its aroma is famously hard to pin down. It has been compared to citrus, mint, petroleum and turpentine^{[4, 7]}.

• Until 2002 it was Chenopodium ambrosioides, one of the goosefoots, a group named for leaves shaped like a goose's foot that also includes quinoa^{[1, 4, 10]}.

• In Brazil it is known as chá-do-méxico and chá-dos-jesuítas, "Mexican tea" and "Jesuits' tea," the same names it carries in English^{[5, 6, 9]}.

• Its stems and leaves are dotted with tiny aromatic oil glands, the source of the strong smell released when a leaf is crushed^{[5, 6]}.

• The name was written down as early as 1571, when Alonso de Molina's Spanish–Nahuatl dictionary glossed epazotl as the "yerba buena," or mint, of New Spain^[3].

Origins and history

Epazote is an annual or short-lived perennial herb that grows about 1 meter (3 feet) tall, with branching stems and toothed, lance-shaped leaves^{[2, 5, 6]}. Tiny flowers grow in small clusters along the stems^{[2, 5]}. It has spread far beyond the Americas and now grows in warm regions across Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia^{[1, 4]}. Carl Linnaeus named it Chenopodium ambrosioides in 1753, and in 2002 the botanists Mosyakin and Clemants moved it to the genus Dysphania^{[1, 5]}.

The Spanish name epazote comes from the Nahuatl epazotl, and the herb is still a mainstay of Mexican cooking, where its fresh leaves are prized^{[2, 3, 11]}. Its strong taste is a hallmark of the Maya cooking of southern Mexico and Guatemala, and the Yucatán Peninsula is the heart of epazote country^[4]. Spanish speakers also call it apazote, pazote and paico, and in Brazil it is mastruz or erva-de-santa-maria^{[5, 6, 9]}. Beyond seasoning, the tender leaves are cooked as a green^{[5, 6]}. The leaves and flowers are steeped as a tea^{[2, 6]}, and that habit gave the plant the names Mexican tea and Jesuit's tea in English, Portuguese and German^{[4, 6, 9]}.

Traditional uses

Epazote's everyday home is the kitchen, where its traditional use is tied to digestion^{[4, 6, 7]}.

• Cooked with beans

  A sprig goes into the bean pot for flavor and, by long tradition, to make beans easier on the digestion^{[4, 6, 7]}.

• A digestive tea

  The leaves and flowers are steeped in hot water as a tea. Epazote supports digestive comfort.*^{[2, 5, 7]}

• A seasoning for the Mexican kitchen

  Beyond beans, the fresh leaves flavor soups, salads and meat dishes, and the green herb sauce mole verde^{[4, 11]}.

Plant compounds

Epazote owes its smell to an essential oil rich in naturally occurring plant compounds called monoterpenes, chiefly ascaridole and alpha-terpinene, with p-cymene and limonene^{[5, 8]}. The oil is most concentrated in the seeds and flowering tops^{[5, 6, 7]}. The leaves also contain flavonoid glycosides^{[5, 8]}.