LEMONY AND FRESH SMALL LEAF
Tagetes, or Huacatay is an Andean herb with strong aromatic flavour. The leaves have a distinct fresh and lemony taste, you can smell the herb from meters distance. Originally the plant is from South America, where tagetes are traditionally used for herbal teas, salsas, oils and tobacco. There, the herb is also called ‘black mint’ or ‘Huacatay’. Almost every part of the plant can be used. The whole stem can be used for oils and the leaves and flowers as garnishment.
Restaurants like to use our Tagetes in various ways. In the dish, Restaurant Fris combined preparations of mackerel with granny smith apple, fermented red beets, jalapeno, and a vinaigrette with yuzu, topped with our Tagetes and other microgreens and flowers.
TAGETES QUALITIES
Tagetes can be used in in different ways. Due to its sweet, lemony, and fresh flavour, we mostly classify it as an ideal microgreen to top off a dessert with. However, as the dish below shows, Tagetes can also be used for pre-courses or main-courses. Let’s get creative and try out this authentic and special herb, that was also traditionally used for medicinal purposes.
Our Tagetes can be described with the following qualities:
- Aromatic
- Lemony
- Green
- Fresh
- Tender
