DON GONZALO'S
CILANTRO PATCH
A few weeks ago Don Gonzalo broke up a small
patch of land near my casita and sowed cilantro, a pungent herb much used in Mexican
cooking. In English often it's called Coriander, but Mexican food has become so popular in
the US that now people up there often use the Spanish name. Its technical name is
CORIANDRUM SATIVUM. The species is a member of the Parsley Family, in which we also find
Cumin, Fennel, Parsnip, Carrot, Celery and other distinguished plants.
Don Gonzalo's seeds promptly sprouted and my first impression was that he'd sowed his
seeds far too closely together. But now I see that he knew what he was doing. The plants
are indeed crowded but, as such, they create their own microclimate, keeping individual
plants relatively sheltered from the hot, dry-season air and sunlight. These plants aren't
bolting and becoming scraggly, as they usually do when up north they're planted well
spaced and in straight lines. You can see the Don's shaggy patch below:
I also thought Don Gonzalo had sowed far too much Cilantro, but now I see that he got
that right, too. At lunch he opens up his tacos and heavily mulches his bean paste with
shredded Cilantro, and he's not the only one who visits the patch. Sometimes the cleaning
ladies go down and pick whole handfuls, take a break beneath a tree and nibble on their
Cilantro bouquets as if they were bags of popcorn. The office workers sometimes collect it
to sprinkle atop their meals and, of course, each day I throw a handful into my solar
cooking pot.
There's a page telling more about Cilantro and providing interesting recipes using it
at http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cilantro.htm.
Though Cilantro lies at the heart of traditional Mexican cooking, it was introduced
into the Americas by the Europeans. Nor is Cilantro the only European food Mexican cuisine
has wholeheartedly embraced. Olive oil, cinnamon, parsley, oregano and black pepper were
all introduced by Europeans. They likewise brought in almonds, rice, wheat and barley, and
fruit and vegetables such as apples, oranges, grapes, lettuce, carrots, cauliflowers,
potatoes (these brought from Peru), and sugarcane. Nor had indigenous Mexicans ever seen
horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, or chickens.
On the other hand, Europeans had never heard of Mexico's chocolate, vanilla, corn or
chili peppers. |