“Papalo? never heard of it.” was my immediate response. But the second I smelled its pungent aroma I knew I needed to know more. As a person who thinks cilantro tastes like soap, I can’t help but think of how often I miss the experience of the brightness cilantro brings to dishes. And while I often sub flat leaf parsley, I just know it’s not the same. Could papalo be my answer?

Papalo is traditionally used as an accompaniment herb. Sitting on tables in vases and picked fresh to add to a taco or sandwich. It’s also known for being used in a pulled pork sandwich call cemitas. It came to our attention when seed saver Melissa DeSa at Grow Hub wanted to try growing this herb after hearing how heat tolerant it is. Lending itself to thrive in our hot humid Florida climate.

After a long hot week, especially since my AC broke (as they usually plan to do on the hottest weekend on record), I decided I need a drink, or ten. Why not see if this herb works in a variation of a refreshing mixed drink? So a group of friends gathered to drink and grill some tacos so we could play with this herb and it’s flavor.

Papalo has lots of oil and juice so it easily muddled with lime mint and sugar. Here I added some Pisco and topped with soda water. I intended to add egg whites and shake but we skipped that part at the expense of just getting to drink it. The result was a combination of a Papalo Pisco sour and a mojito. The verdict on the flavor? Muscadine grape (the skin) meets cilantro and arugula. It’s lemon like acidity and pungent. Some guests liked that it was intensely sweet and sour, others wanted it to be more of a hint of flavor diluted by soda water.

Once the Pisco kicked in and turned the week off for us, we cranked up the grill and started cooking. Right now is the season for vegetables by the truck load. Fun squash tomatoes eggplant peppers… so we put them all on the grill. Now we will see how the papalo lends itself to tacos!

I love dinner parties like this because it’s casual and creative. We set a table up out by the grill and as things come off we load our tortillas.

Papalo in the tacos definitely was a featured flavor. It paired well with the fat of the avocado and the char of the vegetables. Most of us used it sparingly this round as we all noticed the flavor tends to linger. I see pitchers of papalo being a staple at my outdoor dinner parties to come. But the flavor definitely stays with you. By the time dessert was ready we were all very papalo-ed out! And thankful we didn’t put it in the dessert.

This herb is definitely staying in my collection and I will keep playing with it in different applications. Curry? I think so!