SPICE IT UP
Huacatay: Stinking Roger
Unless you’re a herb and spice expert, there’s bound to be a few spices that you’ve never heard of.
Perhaps Mace isn’t so well known, or asafetida, ajowan, nigella and salem or cubeb peppers.
But then a herb comes along that even stumps the guru that comes on the program, and it even turns out to be a weed.
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| Huacatay |
So what can it be?
Let’s find out .
I'm talking with Ian Hemphill from www.herbies.com.au
Huacatay leaves are a little bit like cilantro or coriander.
The flavour profile is supposed to have notes of basil, spearmint, citrus with notes of tarragon,
Also used a lot in South American food going with pork and duck very well. A traditional dish made with potato and goat, called "Ocapa."
Good companion plant for other plants as its reputed to control nematodes.
Huacatay is not available for sale as a herb, but is one you would need to find as 'wild harvest.'
- If you have stinking roger growing in your garden, then perhaps the dried leaf could be used in cooking, but I wouldn’t recommend harvesting anything along the roadside because it may have been sprayed with an insecticide.
- Not only that, all the fallout from hundreds of cars passing the weed, shall we say, won’t be a good thing to want to eat no matter how many times you washed it.
Ian says that he imagines that from 1 kilogram of fresh leaf you would get about 100grams of dried leaf.
If you have any questions of course, why not email realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.
