Epazote

Epazote is a branching annual or short-lived perennial, usually 0.5 to 1 meter tall, with narrow, toothed, lance-shaped leaves and a strong, resinous aroma often compared to petrol, camphor or turpentine. Tiny greenish flowers form in dense spikes along the stems and ripen into masses of minute, round, glossy black seeds, each only about 0.7 millimeter across. The seeds are sold dried in some Latin American markets and herb suppliers, but the fresh or dried leaves are far more common in cooking. The taste is sharp, medicinal and earthy, with notes of citrus, mint and anise. Plants self-sow readily and often grow as weeds along roads and in gardens.

Epazote is native to Central America, Mexico and parts of South America, and it has since naturalized in many warm regions of the world, including the southern United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. The name comes from Nahuatl epazotl, formed from epatl, meaning skunk, and tzotl, meaning dirt or sweat, a reference to its strong smell. The species was long placed in the goosefoot genus Chenopodium and was moved to Dysphania by botanists based on genetic and structural differences. The English name wormseed refers to its historic use against intestinal parasites.

Epazote was used in Mesoamerica long before European contact. Aztec cooks seasoned beans, tamales and moles with it, and healers used infusions for digestive complaints and parasites. Spanish writers recorded its use, and Jesuit missionaries carried the plant to Europe, where it became known as Jesuit's tea and was grown as a medicinal plant. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries wormseed oil, distilled from the seeds and leaves, was commonly given as a vermifuge in Europe and North America and became a commercial crop, notably in Maryland, until safer drugs replaced it.

The plant also spread through Latin America under names such as paico in the Andes, where it is used in soups and teas. In Mexico it remains an essential herb in Oaxacan, Pueblan and Yucatecan cooking, particularly with black beans, where it is credited with reducing gas and adding a distinctive savory character. Cultural traditions vary: some cooks use only the fresh leaves, others add the flower tops with seeds. Today epazote is available in Latin American groceries and gardens in North America, and the wild plants are sometimes regarded as invasive in some regions.

Culinary use focuses on the leaves, with sprigs added to cooking beans, quesadillas, soups, tamales, mole verde and sauces; a small amount goes a long way. The seed-bearing tops are sometimes cooked in the same way. Dried epazote is milder and is used in spice mixes. Traditionally, tea made from the leaves has been used in Latin America as a household remedy for stomach complaints, and wormseed oil was once a medicine for roundworm. Today these medicinal uses are discouraged because of toxicity. The plant is sometimes grown as a companion herb in gardens.

Epazote leaves used in small amounts as seasoning supply minor amounts of vitamins and minerals, but they are not a significant nutrition source. Folk belief holds that it reduces flatulence from beans, though solid clinical evidence is lacking. Laboratory studies have explored antiparasitic and antimicrobial effects of its essential oil, and the compound ascaridole is responsible for both the traditional use and the toxicity. It is not recommended for medicinal self-treatment.