9 replies to this topic

[shelora]

Hello there,
I have started an hoja santa plant and everything is looking good except most of the leaves have developed a brown-ish tint to the edges.
Has anyone had any experience with growing this plant. It is a wonderful herb, very anise in flavour used in many regional recipes in Mexico.
Shelora

[theabroma]

Shelora, Hi!

I've grown them in Dallas - in the ground, and they wintered over. Mine had a north/west exposure, and sometimes it looked real limp in the afternoon sun.
They need a moist, well drained soil, and although they need light, the blast of Texas summer afternoon light will cause them to droop (they will recover). It sounds like yours needs more regular watering, best done early in the morning. Try to avoid gettnig water on the leaves - they have a peach fuzz on them and will trap and hold water against the leaves.

They propagate by sending out suckers, and can be quite aggressive in growth. Mine got to about 6 feet in height and was really luch. As I said, it wintered over successfully for 3 years. My roommate's boyfriend mowed it down to the ground - twice, and that was it. They will freeze, though.

Where are you located?

\theabroma

[fifi]

Welcome shelora.

My sister has had some going in her backyard for about three years now. She is located close-in northwest Houston. It has never frozen back since we have had mild winters lately even though the top leaves have been nipped. Like Sharon says, it can be pretty aggressive. I do think it needs more water than you might think. We were worried that where she planted it would be too wet, thinking that it preferred dry. We thought that since we had heard about it growing wild in south Texas, a place known for droughts. It seems that it likes its water. It is also protected from the hot west sun in the afternoon.

My sister does a marvelous dish of chicken thighs on a bed of chiffonade of hoja santa. She just seasons the chicken and puts it in the oven. We have also done Zarella Martinez's tamale pie. That is basically masa and filling layered in a baking dish and fully wrapped in the leaves.

We love the stuff. It reminds us of sassafras.

[shelora]

hello,
Many thanks for your replies. I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We started our plant indoors and never got water on the leaves and it started developing brown on the leaf tips then. Now that we have shifted the plant to outside, we will remember NOT to put water on the leaves and keep the beautiful thing very wet and see what happens. You both did not say if your plant ever had this brown tip problem.
We do get an awful lot of wind where we are and rain of course, but this summer promises (fingers crossed) to be very hot and dry. At present, we have it in a place that gets more morning light, as opposed to full on afternoon baking heat.
I do want my little hoja santa to take over.
I love your recipe uses for the leaf. I have only made a mole and a segasa (Zapotec dish made with toasted and cracked corn). I want to attempt tamales in the summer, I hear that they are spectacular made with the hoja santa leaf.
Cheerio,
Shelora

[theabroma]

Wow! You'll have the BC hoja santa leaf trade sewn up! Good for you. In retrospect, let me take another stab at the brown leaf tips and edges. Central heat and (here in TX, since it's a religion) air conditioning dry the air terribly ... so, of course, the plants become very dry as well - the soil in the pots and the leaf moisture loss into the hyper dry air. This is true to varying degrees of all interior heating systems. So it may be that regular waterings will cheer up the plant enormously. I may have overstated the water on the leaf thing. Generally, any out of doors plant that has the slightest water trapping ability on the leaf can develop burned spots - but that's here in the blasting S'west sunlight. You just have to remember not to give the poor plant a shower in the late afternoon in July or August. So don't fret about that one too much.

Tamales are good made w/hoja santa. Also fish like small snapper or trout, seasoned and wrapped in hoja santa, then in a soaked corn husk, and steamed or cooked on the grill are really good. Also, check Diana Kennedy's Art of Mx Cooking for the green mole recipe - it uses hoja santa, too.

Theabroma

[shelora]

Many thanks. We shall see what happens this summer. Some of the leaves I am snipping off because the brown is spreading across the leaf. It reminds me of flesh eating disease. Terribly groteque. I can't bear it.

I have made D.K.'s mole verde recipe many times. I had great success bringing leaves back from Mexico in between wax paper, lodged in between the pages of her cookbooks!
Now, I must grow my own, since we have had great success with epazote. It's the only reasonable thing to do.
shelora

[theabroma]

I am trying to locate a recipe I have scribbled down someplace that is a very simple yellow mole (basically onions, chicken, and chile chilcozti, which renders a sauce that is almost saffron yellow. It is served with a puree of hoja santa, which utterly, totally makes the dish. It is, interestingly, a very old, traditional, pre-conquest dish. When/if I run it to ground, I'll send it along. I think I have some chilcoztli, and if not, I think I know where I can snag a few for you.

Theabroma

[shelora]

Well, how wonderful. A new recipe to try. I love making moles. I think I may still have some chilcostles left. I'll have to check the supply.
If you have any, I'd trade you some smoked chile pasilla de Oaxaca.
Deal?
s

[theabroma]

Deal! You've got a pretty classy stash of chiles there, ma'am. Do you get them from Mexico or can you find them here and in Canada?

Theabroma

[shelora]

yessireee!
No chilcostle or chilhuacle. Gadzooks, I need to take another holiday. Food stuffs are my souvenirs when I travel. I am currently ripping right through my seasalt supply and becoming increasingly nervous about losing it. Really, I encourage all who read this to start buying Mexican sea salt - it puts everything overpriced coming out of Europe to shame. Shame I tell you!

Anyway, anytime you are ready to do the trade, Ms. Theobroma, let me know. Then again, can you find out how to contact me through egullet? I don't know how that works.
Also, I have small and smaller. I could do a sample of both. I do recommend them the larger of the two for a UNBELIEVABLE chile relleno.

All the best.
Shelora