This Relative of Black Pepper has giant tropical leaves the size of dinner plates — and they smell like root beer! Its name means “Sacred Leaf,” and this native of the Central American jungle understory has it made in the shade!

Know it

Hoja Santa is a fast-growing, non-woody herbaceous plant. It produces baby plants at the base, eventually growing into a dense clump. In the right conditions, it will grow so fast that some folks say it’s invasive!

The big leaves are velvety and very fragrant. The scent is unique, but I would describe it as having notes of anise, licorice, mint and black pepper.

Meet it

This is another plant that’s hard to find in the States! Chefs in New York and other big northern cities pay growers top dollar to produce fresh leaves. I personally have never seen this plant for sale in stores, but it might make appearances in Latin Markets– theoretically. You might be able to find the dried leaves, sometimes.

Grow it

This plant grows as a tropical understory plant in its native range in Mexico. Hoja Santa has done well for me in places with dappled light as well as sunnier spots. The plants do resent the afternoon sun beating down on them, so somewhere with an eastern exposure should be just right for them.

If you live somewhere colder than I do, you’ll want to dig up the plants to keep in a green house until the weather warms up

This plant does not like the cold! (It is from tropical Central America, after all). If you live in a place that gets cold snaps, you’ll want to give them some attention before any frosts come. Here in south-central Texas the ground doesn’t freeze, so I just cover the base of the plants with a thick layer of mulch. The mulch insulates them and makes sure their feet are nice and toasty through the winter. The tops will die back in the winter, but they’ll pop back up next spring.

Eat it

This plant has tons of potential culinary applications!

Use them as edible wrappers for tamales, wrap them around chicken and fish and steam them, or use them as a low carb tortilla replacement in quesadillas!

Here’s some Rainbow Trout I wrapped in the leaves and steamed. I served the fish alongside some sunburst squash, crispy tostones, and a lime buerre blanc sauce. Delicious!

You can also use the leaves as you would other herbs, and use them to make sauces. They are a vital component of one of the Mole sauces –Mole Verde. This Mole sauce doesn’t use chocolate the way Mole Poblano does. Instead, it uses Hoja Santa leaves — turning it green!

A word of warning, however. This plant contains a compound named “safrole” which is the same chemical found in Sassafras — the original root beer flavoring. Safrole is also found naturally in cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and basil. Studies showed that it caused liver cancer in rats and mice when given in high doses. This is subject to some debate, especially since it would be quite difficult for a human to consume a similar amount. As with any new food or substance, do your own research before putting it into your body!

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment below on some things you’ve cooked with Hoja Santa!

Here’s my recipe for pesto!

2 cups of fresh basil leaves, packed

1/3 cup pecans, toasted at 350 for about 5 minutes

2 cloves of garlic

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Blend all ingredients except parmesan together in blender for a few minutes. Add cheese and blend an additional minute.

Use with pasta, sandwiches, marinades, you name it! You can also freeze for later use.

If there’s anything that annoys me when I’m looking for a recipe, it’s wading through commentary to get to the ingredients. So, here’s the recipe, and I’ll go into further detail below!

• about 2 lbs of purple sweet potatoes
• 1 egg
• about 1.5 cups flour, as needed
• nutmeg, fresh!

Now here’s a step by step guide — with pictures.

Let’s start by getting to the root of this recipe. (Hardy-har-har).

Making gnocchi is actually quite similar to making pasta, but gnocchi have something pasta doesn’t: potato. This gives gnocchi their distinctive “pillow-y-ness.”

I’m doing a little twist on traditional gnocchi, which are made with true potatoes, by instead using my homegrown purple sweet potatoes.

I should mention that my potatoes are not “cured” and because I didn’t allow the roots to undergo the curing process, they were starchy and not very sweet at all — which is actually what I was going for! Because of the starchiness, they behaved almost identically to real potatoes. If you’re using sweet potatoes from the store, bear in mind that because they’ve been through the curing process, they will be sweet.

Anyway, on to the recipe.

This particular sweet potato was absolutely MASSIVE. Raw, it weighed in at nearly two pounds. There’s a 6 inch bench scraper for scale.

I preheated my oven to 425, pricked some holes in the skin of my washed sweet potato and just put in on the rack of my oven to cook.

That’s it.

You don’t need no foil, or oil, or nothin’

Depending on the size and shape of the root, you may need to roast it for a longer or shorter amount of time. I’ll give you a ball park estimate of about an hour before you start checking it.

One of my favorite tools in the kitchen is this little cake tester. My old Chef came back from working in an NYC Michelin star restaurant and introduced this to me.

We use it like a probe; stick it into the thickest part of your food for a second or two and then pull it out. Metal conducts electricity so it’ll pick up the heat of your food. You can then touch a sensitive part of your skin like your hands or just under your lips to get an idea of the temp. Faster and easier than a thermometer. (Obviously make sure it’s clean before sticking it into another piece of food)

In the case of veggies, you can use it to evaluate whether or not they are soft. if it goes through easily, and the probe is hot, then you’re done with roasting! (Veggies get cooked to much higher temps than proteins so be careful! the probe will be very hot)

I mean, you could also use a fork for this, I guessssss. But it’s just not as cool.

The potato, she is done, comrade .

I would reccomend letting it sit for a little while on the counter, but impatience got to me so cut it in half after only a couple minutes. I wanted to see how purple it was.

It didn’t disappoint.

After you cut it in half, let the steam come out of it and let it cool to room temp.

Scoop the flesh into a bowl and weigh it. you should have about a pound and a half of cooked sweet potato. You don’t have to get crazy-anal-retentive about this; as long as you’re in the ballpark you’ll be okay.

Mash up with a potato masher (although, if you have one, a ricer would be better!) season with some salt, freshly ground white pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg.

whisk up your egg, mix it in with the purple stuff

Then add the flour until it’s no longer sticky and is workable. You’ll end up with dough like this:

I divided into smaller, more workable pieces

Now, you’re going to make a long snake

and then cut the little dumplings.

At this point, if you’ve got a gnocchi roller go ahead and use it! I, sadly, was relegated to using a fork, like a plebeian. I’ve also seen people get creative, using cheese graters, and other things to add texture to their gnocchi.

To cook them, bring a pot of water with a handfull of salt to a boil. You don’t need to put oil, just salt. Make sure you have ample water or you’ll end up with a gummy mess.

Drop in your gnocchi and they’ll sink to the bottom

and cook them until they float!

At this point you can serve them with your favorite hearty sauce or even just butter and parmigiana.

I’m a little bit extra, (if you haven’t already noticed) so I added a few more components! This post is getting a bit long though, so I’ll make that a separate post.

Think I’ll link that right about…. here.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe! You can certainly use store bought sweet potatoes to make the gnocchi, orange or purple. Just remember that because store bought sweeties are always cured, the gnocchi will have a little bit of sweetness!