Epazote is a strongly scented Mexican herb with a pungent, resinous, slightly medicinal flavour, traditionally cooked with black beans, quesadillas and corn dishes. Use it in small amounts.
What it is¶
Epazote is a weedy, strong-smelling annual or short-lived perennial native to Mexico and Central and South America, related to fat hen, quinoa and spinach. It has toothed, pointed leaves and tiny green flowers clustered along the stems. Crush a leaf and you will not forget the smell.
It is one of the characteristic herbs of central and southern Mexican cooking, especially with black beans. Its English names include Mexican tea, wormseed and Jesuit's tea; the name epazote comes from the Nahuatl epazotl, commonly glossed as combining epatl (skunk) and tzotl (sweat or dirt), a fair description of its aroma.
Epazote has been reclassified from Chenopodium to Dysphania, but both names appear in books and seed catalogues.
Origins and history¶
Epazote was used in Mexico long before the Spanish conquest, both as a food herb and as a traditional remedy, particularly for intestinal worms. Its seeds and essential oil ("oil of chenopodium") were used as an anthelmintic in Europe and the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries, until the oil's toxicity (it contains high levels of ascaridole) led to its replacement by safer drugs.
As a culinary herb it is most associated with the cooking of central and southern Mexico, including Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz and the Yucatán. It has naturalised widely around the world, including in parts of Europe, and is considered a weed in many places.
Flavour and aroma¶
Epazote is an acquired taste. It is pungent and resinous, with notes of citrus, mint, oregano and anise over a background often described as petrol, turpentine or creosote. Fresh leaves are much stronger and more complex than dried ones, which have a flatter, more medicinal flavour.
Cooked in small amounts, the aggressive edges soften and it gives beans and corn dishes a deep, earthy, savoury character that is hard to identify but missed when absent.
In the kitchen¶
Epazote is almost always cooked, and used in small amounts: a sprig or two per pot.
- Black beans. The classic use. Add a sprig of fresh epazote (4–6 leaves) or 1 tsp dried to a pot of frijoles de olla (beans cooked with onion, garlic and lard or oil) for the last 15–20 minutes of cooking. Adding it too early, or too much, makes the beans bitter.
- Quesadillas. A leaf or two of fresh epazote is folded into quesadillas with cheese, squash blossoms or huitlacoche (corn smut).
- Corn. Street-food esquites (corn kernels simmered with butter, chilli and epazote, served with lime, mayonnaise and cheese) are traditionally flavoured with it.
- Soups and sauces. It flavours tortilla soup, mushroom soups, moles de olla, some green moles and many regional sauces.
- Seafood. In Veracruz and the Yucatán, it goes with fish and shrimp.
📌 Beans and wind
Epazote is widely said to reduce the flatulence caused by beans. This is a strongly held traditional belief rather than an established fact, and there is little evidence either way.
Buying and storing¶
Fresh epazote can be hard to find outside Mexico and the southern USA; look in Latin American grocers or grow it. Keep fresh sprigs in a glass of water in the fridge, or wrapped in damp paper, for up to a week.
Dried epazote, often sold with a lot of stem, is more common. Store it in an airtight jar and use within a year. It can also be frozen, which preserves the flavour better. See freezing herbs.
Substitutes¶
Nothing tastes like epazote. If you have none, leave it out; beans will be good without it. For a vaguely similar herbaceous depth, use a little Mexican oregano with a pinch of savory or a few mint leaves, or some coriander leaf added at the end.
Pairs well with¶
Black and pinto beans, corn, squash blossoms, huitlacoche, mushrooms, cheese, pork, fish and shrimp, chillies, garlic, onions, tomatoes, lime and oregano.
Growing your own¶
Epazote is easy to grow; the difficulty is stopping it.
- Sowing. Sow seed in spring after the last frost, directly outdoors in full sun, or in pots indoors a few weeks earlier. Barely cover the seed.
- Conditions. It tolerates poor, dry soil and heat, and will grow in almost any sunny spot.
- Self-seeding. Epazote produces huge quantities of seed and will spread rapidly; in many regions it is an invasive weed. Grow it in a container and remove flowering stems before they set seed.
- Harvesting. Pick young leaves and shoot tips regularly; they are more tender and less harsh than those of older plants.
In Britain it is grown as an annual and usually killed by the first frost, though self-sown seedlings may appear the next year.
Health and safety¶
Epazote contains ascaridole, a compound that is toxic in large amounts. The concentrated essential oil (oil of chenopodium) has caused serious poisoning and deaths, and should never be taken internally.
- Culinary amounts, a sprig or two in a pot of beans, are generally regarded as safe for most people, and epazote has been eaten this way in Mexico for centuries.
- Do not use large quantities, or brew strong teas from it, and do not use the seeds or oil.
- It is traditionally avoided in pregnancy and while breastfeeding, and should not be given to young children in more than normal food amounts.