It’s my opinion
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Thanks! I’m really intrigued.
While we’re on the subject of herbs, there’s another Mexican herb called damiana that I have loved as a tea for years. Rather spicy and aromatic. I blend the loose leaves half and half with peppermint for a bracing afternoon beverage. But I don’t think Spice House would have it.
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The Spice House has a bunch of recipes that include Mexican oregano. I'm thinking some pickled jalapenos could be in my future.
https://www.thespicehouse.com/blogs/news/spicelight-mexican-oregano
I made escabeche last week. Pickled jalapeños, radishes, carrots and cauliflower. Super easy and really good! I’ve been eating it over cottage cheese for breakfast.
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I looked up Mexican Oregano online and, like Steve said, it’s a very different animal from European oregano. It’s actually in a different genus. I did not know this before, and I will go looking for it. We have a big Mexican community around here, so I hope I can assume that they sell the real thing.
Another distinctly Mexican herb is Epazote, very earthy, often cooked with beans. It’s not exotic, grows everywhere. The flavor has been compared to motor oil, not inaccurately.
The tenants also grew epazote and I can recognize the flavor. I’m not sure I care for it.
Or maybe a little goes a long way.
I’m not familiar with damiana but I see Amazon sells it fairly cheap. The plant grows wild in Texas but I don’t think it will survive your winter. Maybe just as well - plants are very expensive on line.
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I have and use Mexican oregano. Also cilantro, but that has to be fresh. Both make a huge difference in Mexican cooking.
On that subject, I found a place here that make frozen margaritas just like Pepper’s in Arcadia did, which is where I learned about Mexican food.
After 40 years I remember those flavors very clearly. When I moved back east what few places offered what they called salsa did not use cilantro. I finally figured out what was wrong with them.
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There is such a large Mexican population here now that most foodstuffs are widely available, even grown by Mexican farms. Surprised I haven’t seen the oregano, but Mexico has regional cuisines, and around here I gather it’s Oaxacan.
One thing I just can’t get used to is papalote. It’s everywhere but I don’t know how to use it.
Funny, back in the early 80’s Mexican food was quite exotic. Manhattan had only one or two restaurants. Armed with Diana Kennedy’s cookbooks, I was keen to cook Mexican, but there were TWO places to buy Mexican ingredients: a place on 14th St. (expensive) or an open-air market up in Spanish Harlem. Today, in Staten Island, I can just walk a block or two.
Same with craft beer: hard to find then, now everywhere.
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There is such a large Mexican population here now that most foodstuffs are widely available, even grown by Mexican farms. Surprised I haven’t seen the oregano, but Mexico has regional cuisines, and around here I gather it’s Oaxacan.
One thing I just can’t get used to is papalote. It’s everywhere but I don’t know how to use it.
Funny, back in the early 80’s Mexican food was quite exotic. Manhattan had only one or two restaurants. Armed with Diana Kennedy’s cookbooks, I was keen to cook Mexican, but there were TWO places to buy Mexican ingredients: a place on 14th St. (expensive) or an open-air market up in Spanish Harlem. Today, in Staten Island, I can just walk a block or two.
Same with craft beer: hard to find then, now everywhere.
@RealPlayer said in It’s my opinion:
Funny, back in the early 80’s Mexican food was quite exotic.
My first experience with Mexican food in NYC (early-ish 80s) was El Coyote, Broadway, just north of Grace Church. (Some where between 8th and 14th Sts.) Not far from where Pizza Piazza eventually opened (Swoon, their deep dish pepperoni was to die for!... imo).
