Plant · P-663

Papalo

Porophyllum ruderale

Papalo is a pungent, strongly scented leafy herb used the way cilantro is used, but through the hottest stretch of summer when cilantro has already bolted. The leaf is more assertive than cilantro, with notes some compare to arugula or rue, and is eaten raw or cooked in salads, stews and salsa; harvest is by pinching the growing tips, which keeps new leaf coming and delays flowering. It thrives on poor, stony or sandy free-draining ground in full sun and needs no coddling, but it seeds itself prolifically once it flowers, so an unmanaged patch will keep reappearing on its own the following year.