Comments on: Papalo (pipicha/pepiche?) has powerful flavor

By: Erick

Erick — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:18:28 +0000

I have read several comments and one that i really pay attention is to Nillie’s comment one of the facts she said is that papalo helps too digest food i have eat papalo for all my life and its true that it has a strong smell. I tryit with some pizza and i love it but if you want to eat Papalo look for a restaurant where they sell cemitas poblanas its like a torta but its special cook and at the end they add some papalo oh and remember if your cemita does not have Papalo its not a cemita.

By: Janet Majure

Janet Majure — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:51:24 +0000

Hey, Erick. You sound like someone who would know. Thanks for the update!

By: Erick

Erick — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:42:19 +0000

Ok… People im a farmer from Redlands C.A and i have over 20 acres of Papalo. Its region its from Puebla, Mexico. Papalo is not like cilantro to eat the proper way to eat Papalo is to symply eat it when you are eating something say you are eating some soup for example just eat a couple of leaves and enjoy. Like i said Papalo is not a herb for cooking just for eating NOT FOR COOKING. Enjoy

By: Janet Majure

Janet Majure — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:50:27 +0000

Velez, Shez, Magdalena and Nillie: Thanks for your contributions to understanding papalo! Also, for those of you who didn’t read all the comments, you can see I later wrote about some papalo success I had here: http://foodperson.com/2008/08/02/papalo-hot-peppers/

By: Nillie

Nillie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:16:36 +0000

My parents were born in Guerrero & I grew up eating papalos. My father actually grows his own here in Chicago & you can always find a fresh bunch sitting in a water glass on out dinning room table (in the summer time.) My parents have never used this herb for cooking, but we do eat the leaves when we are eating tacos or something spicy. I’m actually curious to learn about the nutritional value of this herb. My father always told me that this herb helped your digestive system, but that could’ve just been his way of getting me to eat them. :)

By: Magdalena

Magdalena — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:14:12 +0000

This is certainly papalos; I love it and I go crazy over it like catnip for cats. This herb is abundant in Southwestern Puebla; my father’s family and I are originally from Chiautla de Tapia and my mother is from Cohetzala (which is not far from the State of Guerrero) and papalos was always a centerpiece delicacy.

Like Wizard, we always put papalos (or cilantro) on a drinking glass that serves like a vase; we take a piece at a time and munch on it when we’re eating spicy mantecadas (something like picaditas), mole, beans, etc. I figured the purpose for doing that is to clear the palate since the papalos have a very strong, pungent and savory taste. I assume papalos would come from the watercress family since it has a pungent, refreshing and mild spicy taste; it just wakes your senses up!

My father likes to have these papalos on a bean stew cooked for a couple of hours in a clay pot and believe me it is a delicacy! I’m growing them in my backyard this season and look forward to making bean stew soon enough.

By: Shez

Shez — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:47:39 +0000

yes, just got a whiff of Pipicha since my hubby (native from Mex. City) brought some home today. i opened the ziploc and about fell over, but it wasnt a bad smell, it was really really strong and perfumy. I took a tiny snip of one blade and chewed it up. it has an intense carroty- perfumey flaver/smell. i do not care for cilantro, but i did like this Pipicha. it would only take a wee bit to season anything, however!! Pipicha is the blade-like grassy herb. Papalo is the one with roundish leaves on it. (He brought THAT home last week!) I did not care for Papalo, but i did like this “grass” stuff! I think you could put a tiny bit in poco de gallo instead of cilantro (my preference! “no cilantro, please”) otherwise it will be interesting to see how he uses it. PS: he just told me that he makes quesadillas (empanadas) of Squashflowers and Papicha. No cheese, just the homemade masa dough circles, a squash blossom and a sprig of Papicha. I can imagine after frying, you open the steaming hot empanada and smelling that pungent aroma!!

By: velez

velez — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:17:17 +0000

well i am from santo domingo huehuetlan el grande puebla, and here 90 percent of the people commerce with papalo and pipicha,,, i can tell you that here we transport tons of papalo allover the world including russia…. we have the best of the best in diferent kinds of moles poblanos and whenever you feel like coming contact the comite of new york, ny or los angeles california, people from these region is very riliable and puebla is one of the safest state to visit.

By: Janet Majure

Janet Majure — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:28:03 +0000

Sorry, samus, I don’t know the answer. A quick Web search found nothing. I assume it’s similar to other leafy herbs like, say, cilantro or parsley, but that’s a guess.

By: samus

samus — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:12:38 +0000

What does the papalos or pipicha nutriet you wht nutrients does it have?