Huacatay: Pronounced 'wah-kah-tie',
it is sometimes called Peruvian black mint. This herb is central to much Andean
cooking and is the Peruvian cousin of the marigold, a version of tagates
minuta. Huacatay
has very aromatic leaves
which are ground into a paste (usually with a mortar and pestle) that adds
flavor and depth to many Peruvian Andean dishes.
Tagetes minuta is used as a culinary herb
in Peru, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Bolivia, where it is called by the
quechua term huacatay. It is commonly sold in Latin grocery stores in a
bottled, paste format as black mint paste.
Delicious FRESH Ají de
Huacatay can be made in minutes and
it keeps for quite some time. Try to make it in advance of using it as the
flavor improves with time. Put in squirt bottles or simply put in bowls as a
dipping sauce. As a condiment, it is at home along-side Pollo a la Brasa as it
is Beef, Pork, and Fish.
A little goes a long way. Most huacatay
sauce & pesto recipes use about a half cup to a cup of chopped leaves. It can be dried, used as a medicinal tea,
steam distilled for essential oil, and made into a spray for organic gardening
pest control, which is what I’m mostly growing it for.
The
New World peoples have been using Tagetes minuta as a flavorful
beverage, a medicinal tea, and a condiment since pre-contact times (Rees 1817).
The local names vary by region, most commonly found in the literature as; chinchilla,
chiquilla, chilca, zuico, suico, or the Spanish
term anisillo.
A
beverage is prepared from Tagetes minuta by steeping a
"half-handful" of the dried plant in hot water for 3 to 5 min. The
beverage may be consumed warm or cooled, and may be sweetened to individual
taste (Neher 1968).
For
medicinal use, a decoction made by steeping a "double handful" of the
dried plant in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes is used as a remedy for the
common cold; including upper and lower respiratory tract inflammations, and for
digestive system complaints; stomach upset, diarrhea, and "liver"
ailments. The decoction is consumed warm, and may be sweetened to individual
taste (Neher 1968; Parodi 1959; Cavanilles 1802).
Tagetes
minuta
is used as a condiment in Chile and Argentina. It is popular in rice dishes and
as a flavoring in stews. In northern Chile suico is so highly prized
that many people actively collect wild populations to dry a sufficient supply
to last the winter (Kennedy pers. commun.).
Tagetes
minuta
is often referred to as a weed. Cabrera (1971) states that "....
Spegazzini mentions that this plant is a common weed of cultivation in the
lower Rio Negro Valley...." Spegazzini and Cabrera appear to not
understand the native outlook on "weeds." The farmers view the
"weeds" as a second crop. Many of the Latin American farmers who do
not practice industrialized agriculture will leave volunteer plants of Tagetes
minuta in their fields. This second crop is beneficial in several ways:
first, rapid growth of T. minuta quickly shades out other plant species
that may be of less use to the farmer, second, it can be harvested for personal
use, or for sale in city markets, and third, has been reported to aid in the
retention of humidity in the field (Jimenez-Osornio 1991).
Tagetes
minuta
is commercially grown and harvested for its essential oils which are used in
the flavor and perfume industry as "Tagetes Oil." The oil is used in
perfumes, and as a flavor component in most major food products, including cola
beverages, alcoholic beverages, frozen dairy desserts, candy, baked goods,
gelatins, puddings, condiments, and relishes (Leung 1980). Brazil is one major
producer of T. minuta for Tagetes Oil (Craveiro et al. 1988). Worldwide
production of the oil was around 1.5 tonnes in 1984 (Lawrence 1985).
SECONDARY COMPOUNDS
Tagetes minuta
is rich in many secondary compounds, including acyclic, monocyclic and bicyclic
monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, thiophenes, and aromatics (Rodriguez
and Mabry 1977). There is evidence that the secondary compounds in Tagetes
are effective deterrents of numerous organisms, including: fungi (Chan et al.
1975), fungi pathenogenic on humans (Camm et al. 1975), bacteria (Grover and
Rao 1978), round worms in general (Loewe 1974), trematodes (Graham et al.
1980), nematodes (Grainge and Ahmed 1988), and numerous insect pests through
several different mechanisms (Jacobsen 1990; Saxena and Koul 1982; Maradufu et
al. 1978; Saxena and Srivastava 1973). Many closely related plant secondary
compounds have demonstrated medicinal value in humans (Kennewell 1990;
Korolkovas and Burckhalter 1976) In vivo human studies of the secondary
compounds of T. minuta have not been reported, although other Tagetes
species have proven medically safe and efficacious (Caceres et al. 1987).
Hudson (1990) tested the many different secondary compounds for anti-viral activity, and determined that thiophenes demonstrated the greatest anti-viral action at the lowest doses, and with the least toxicity overall. Of the thiophenes, molecules with two or more thiophene units showed the highest activity. In all cases, the best success was against viruses with envelopes. Hudson tested 32 thiophenes, evaluated their efficacy and determined the 10 most effective ones. Atkinson et al. (1964) first reported the thiophenes found in Tagetes minuta. A comparison of Atkinson's results to those of Hudson, shows that 7 of the 10 most effective anti-viral thiophenes are found in Tagetes minuta.
The work of Hethelyi et al. (1986) and that of Hudson (1990) indicate that the use of Tagetes minuta as a medicinal beverage by indigenous people may have a valid biological basis, although in vivo work has not been published. Further work is warranted, and could be used to aid in the marketing of herbal products of Tagetes minuta.
Chandhoke
and Ghatak (1969), working with experimental animals, determined that the oil
of Tagetes minuta has hypotensive, bronchodilatory, spazmolytic,
anti-inflammatory, and tranquilizing properties. These actions are in
accordance with the reported folk use of the beverage as a medical decoction.
Given that generations of South Americans have used T. minuta as a
beverage and condiment, it seems that use in moderation causes no ill effects;
however additional toxicology studies would be necessary prior to marketing the
plant as a beverage.
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Interesting additional info:
Huacatay for pest & fungal control in the garden: A product for killing subsurface and surface soil pathogens including
nematodes, wire worms, cut worms, worms, insects, fungi and plant and
soil surface pests comprises an extract derived from the plant Tagetes
minuta. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5662915.html
Antiviral activity of root extracts from Tagetes minuta against Herpes simplex virus: http://ijpr.sbmu.ac.ir/?_action=articleInfo&article=513
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