The best Mexican dishes are made with ingredients freshly harvested from the garden.
Mexican cooking utilizes many vegetables and herbs that are adaptable to North American gardens, so you can have a fresh supply of ingredients called for in Mexican dishes on hand. A Mexican garden provides fresh ingredients to make tasty Mexican dishes and may be one of the most colorful and attractive spots in your yard. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Select a site for your Mexican garden that will provide ample space for plants and herbs, receive full sun and is protected from high winds. A spot near the kitchen door is traditional and convenient. Keep in mind that many Mexican herbs can get rather large, such as chepil, which can grow into a six-foot flowering shrub.
2. Amend soil to be planted with a generous amount of compost to provide the needed nutrients and peat moss to aide in moisture and nutrient retention.
3. Plant Mexican herbs that are used in your favorite dishes. Chepil is deep-rooted and drought-resistant with leaves and flowers that are steamed and eaten as a vegetable. Cilantro or coriander reseeds easily and adds a unique, tangy flavor to many Mexican dishes. Spearmint spreads rapidly if not kept in check and adds an aromatic flavor to many dishes, including fresh leaves in cold drinks. Indian paintbrush is a Zapotec herb used in cooking beans and rice. Mexican bay leaf or laurel, which is thinner-leafed than Mediterranean bay, is used for pickling or in cooked soups, sauces and meat dishes. Chamomile is used to make tea. Peppermint is used like spearmint and prefers a shady location. Mexican parsley, is added to rice, stews and casseroles, and to green mole toward the end of cooking. Lamb's quarter has a spinach-like flavor and is eaten raw or served as a cooked vegetable. Lemon grass, which was used for tea traditionally, can be added to chicken broth or soup. Thyme is used in pickled chiles and marinades with meats, mushrooms and cooked sauces. Pursaine has a sharp, cooling flavor that is eaten raw in salads, or steamed, saut ed with onion and chili or in green mole.
4. Add more familiar garden favorites such as tomatoes, onions and garlic to round out your selection. If you include more than one type of pepper, they need to be planted in different areas of the garden to avoid cross-pollination. While not typically considered Mexican plants, these vegetables are used abundantly in Mexican dishes.
5. Leave space for the plants that no Mexican garden would be complete without: chiles. Chiles are found in a variety of flavors, from fiery hot to mild to sweet. Chiles most often found in American gardens include bell peppers, California green chiles, habeneros, pimentos, jalepeno, ancho, Fresno chiles, pasilla, serrano, banana pepper, caribe and Sante Fe grande.
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