Hoja Santa

[Root Beer Plant, Mexican Pepperleaf, Sacred Pepper, Vera Cruz Pepper Piper Sanctum (USA); False Kava (Hawaii); Hoja Xanta, Hierba Santa, Anisillo, Acoyo, Santa Maria (Spanish); Xmakulan, Tlanecpahquílitl (Nahuatl); Piper auritum]

This plant is native from northern South America to just north of the Mexican border. It prefers the tropics, where It can grow to 20 feet high, and is now an aggressive invasive in Hawaii and Florida. It spreads via rhizomes that send up new shoots. The leaves can get to 12 inches wide, but those in the photo were 9 inches long and 6-3/4 inches wide. There is some cultivation in Florida and Southern California.

Fresh leaves are used in Mexican cuisine, particularly in Oaxaca, for flavoring tamales, soups, eggs, and chocolate drinks. It is an essential ingredient in the Oaxacan "mole verde" sauce. These leaves have a very distinct "root beer like" taste.

Buying:

This product is quite hard to find much north of Oaxaca. The two specimens in the photo were purchased from a large multi-ethnic market in Los Angeles at the price of 2015 US $1.45 for 2 leaves, together weighing 3/8 ounce, or $3.87 per ounce. My plant is still too young to harvest, so I recently ordered some freshly picked leaves on-line, 1.3 ounces (10 leaves staged from small to medium) for 2023 US $25.00 (shipping included), which is about $19 per ounce. Expensive, but beats the cost of time and gasoline to try to find them in markets when you just need a few.

Dried Hoja Santa is much easier to find on-line and less expensive per leaf - but it has lost much of it's desirable flavor. The photo sample, 12 leaves, weighed 0.8 ounces for 2023 US $8.95, or $11.19 per ounce (plus shipping).

Substitute:

Avocado leaves, but only Mexican (Persea americana var drimyfolia) which has scented leaves. Nearly all in California are Persea americana var guatemalensis or hybrids, which are non-aromatica, thus culinarily useless.

Mexican Tarragon, and even regular Tarragon have been suggested, and also Thai Purple Basil, and Anise (1/8 teaspoon per leaf), but these are not suitable as wrappers, only for flavoring.

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