Papalo

Papalo at Maxwell St. Market a few years ago.

Hi,

This is a Mexican herb I associate with summer, Cemitas Puebla and Maxwell Street Market.

Yesterday I found papalo available for sale at Mike's Farmstand in Highland Park.

There is a new owner since earlier this spring. The new owners also sell fruits and vegetables at area flea markets. Before it was fresh like those at Stanley's and Jerry's Fruit Market, which are good value if you plan to cook it in the near future. What Mike's offers now just a bit further along the vegetable lifetime timeline with a more immediate need to cook now rather than later.

I still go because I can get in and out rapidly without being distracted walking around the grocery store.

Mike's Farmstand
2070 Green Bay Rd
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 433-7532

I tried Papalo on a Cemita and did not like it And it repeated on me for hours later

I've tried to grow it thrice (type "papalo" in the search box) from seed, and failed each time. And there's no where in Montréal to buy it. Sigh.
Lucky you, C2!

Geo

Has anyone used it on anything other than sandwiches? I just scored some from one of my students; whose parents grow it in their backyard.

I was thinking about using it to garnish braised pork tacos, but would love to try making it into a sauce or something more adventurous. I know a lot of people compare it to cilantro, but I think it is much more hearty, and could stand a little heat (as in temp).

In the Cemitas Puebla thread, stevez wrote:

dansch wrote:Oh, and papalo is in season, so that's making its seasonal appearance on the sandwiches!

Not to derail the thread, but for all the papalo lovers out there, Fresh Farms is now selling it by the bunch right next to the culantro.

Now is a good time to be a papalo lover in Chicago. The herb can be found in many good supermercados and is abundant at the Maxwell Street Market. There, a dollar seems to be the going price for a large bunch. The herb vendor immediately north of Roosevelt had particularly nice bunches as well as healthy papalo plants ($3 or two for $5). It might not be too late to put in a plant or two.



That's quilites (goosefoot) in the foreground; verdolaga (purslane) and manzanilla (chamomile) can be seen behind the papalo. They also had nice looking epazote and a few other Mexican herbs.

At Arroyos, at the northeast corner of Desplaines & Cabrini, the long tables are set with bouquets of papalo stuck in cups of water. They aren't merely decorative but are there so patrons can garnish their tacos and guisados as they please.

Sweetbread wrote:Has anyone used it on anything other than sandwiches? I just scored some from one of my students; whose parents grow it in their backyard.

Also in the Cemitas Puebla thread, MARYC wrote:I had papalo for the first time last year. My friends mother grows it in her yard. She made the best salad ever. It had firm mangoes, papalo, the little pepper(red) and just a little oil and lime juice. It's so simple but so so good. I just saw some at the local grocery store by me for $.99 a bunch, that's a great deal.

That salad sounds really good.



It tastes really good too, even better than I expected. It's one of the best uses of papalo I can imagine and is an ideal warm weather salad. The chilies I used were quite hot but fit perfectly with the other ingredients so I wished I used even more. I'll be making it a lot during this papalo season so I can adjust the proportions. Thanks for sharing that wonderful recipe.