I love this herb. I first came across it (and the class of herbiage called “quelites”) in a book by Josefina Howard.

At this stage of my life I was a qualified chef (although at this time my primary interest was in the spices and cooking of India) and a trained herbalist (I later became qualified in Naturopathy) and I realised as I thumbed through this book at a 2nd Hand store that, although I knew a lot about the foods that came from the Americas (tomato, potato, chiles, choko (chayote), corn, beans, vanilla, chocolate…..et al….the list goes on), I actually knew next to nothing about the herbs of the Americas. The only one I knew was epazote (although I knew it as wormseed) and I knew this as a medicinal herb and not a culinary one.

I will also say that this was the first book that introduced me to a Mexican cuisine that was not Old El Paso.

Josefinas book lead me to the writings of Diana Kennedy and my life has never been the same.

The order (mas o menos) in which I acquired Diana’s books.

Diana cops a bit of shit for being a “cultural appropriator” (nowhere near as much as Rick Bayless does though) but I think these accusations come from the virtue signalling woke. The Mexican Government celebrates and has awarded Diana (now deceased) for the work she has done in cataloguing regional Mexican cuisines and it has been stated that some recipes only exist now because Diana recorded them.

That’s enough reminiscing for now.

It is nearing the end of the Summer season.

In Australia we are entering Autumn and it is a welcome relief from the stinking hot Summer (1) we have just endured. The combination of hot weather and harsh dry winds killed a lot of my seedlings this year (not just the papalo) and quite frankly it has been one of the worst years for my garden that I have seen in quite the while.

1. with the hottest day maxing out at 46.1C (114.98F) with days averaging at 32.6C (90.68F)

This is one of the first photos I have of growing Porophyllums in my garden. On the left is P.ruderale (Quillquina) (1) and on the right P.macrocephalum (papaloquelite). I’ve also just noted the date on the photo. I’ve been growing these herbs for over 20 years now.

1. I’m using the Bolivian name for P.ruderale but this plant is also called papalo in Mexico.

Unfortunately I did not care for or rotate my stock of P.ruderale seed with enough diligence and I no longer have seed for this variety and it pains me somewhat that I do not have this plant currently growing in my garden.

This years crop of papalo (P.macrocephalum) was dismal. The best plant in my garden this year was an opportunistic seed that made a home in my driveway in a crack between the paving stones and concrete.

This plant was also not far from my bedroom window and the scent of papalo wafting through my bedroom on a cool morning still wet with dew is one of my happy places.

Below is an image of where this plant took root. Not what I’d call ideal growing conditions.

This was another one that came up unexpectedly. These two plants sprouted in the same pot that I am growing a pineapple in.

Nowhere near as bushy as the one in the driveway but these were exposed to full sunlight all Summer. No shade or cover to mitigate the ferocity of the Sun.

These few seedlings have only come up in the last week. The runoff from watering a nearby rhubarb plant has been enough to trigger these into sprouting. We shall see how they survive the upcoming cold weather.

Papalo can be tenacious. Here it grows on the roof of a building in Mexico.

All in all a rather dismal season. Here’s looking towards next Spring.