Mexican Mint Marigold

Did you know

• The leaves taste exactly like French tarragon—gardeners in hot climates where true tarragon won't grow use Mexican mint marigold as a perfect culinary substitute.
• Aztec priests used the dried herb as 'yauhtli,' burning it as incense in religious ceremonies and adding it to a powder thrown in the faces of human sacrifice victims to numb them.
• Modern Mexican curanderos still use the herb in ceremonial 'limpias' (cleansings) and brew it as a tea for stomach complaints, fever, and colds.
• The plant is one of the few late-blooming herbs in the cottage garden—it produces clouds of small golden flowers in October and November, when little else is in flower.
• Texan cooks call it 'Texas tarragon' or 'sweet mace,' and it's a beloved ingredient in regional cooking from chili to Tex-Mex herb butters.

Color meanings

Uses

• Culinary herb
• Tea
• Late-season flowers
• Cottage gardens