herb

One Herb You Don’t Want to Miss Out on Growing

Dan Nursery crops, Specialty Crops, This Land of Ours

The one herb you don’t want to miss out on growing.  That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.

herb
Root Beer Plant or Piper auritum (habit)
By Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, Link

If you’ve eaten Mexican food, you have more-than-likely eaten root beer plant chopped in sweet and savory dishes or wrapped around food to form a delicious edible parcel. What you may not realize is that what you were eating was the Root Beer Plant.

Sometimes described as tasting like a little sassafras mixed with licorice, mint, tarragon, and eucalyptus, if you close your eyes and savor the bite, it can taste distinctly like eating a root beer soda.

This wonderful herb, which is related to the black pepper plant, is a perennial herb that can grow up to 12 feet tall, with leaves up to 12 inches across. Root beer plant is also perfect for a scented garden because the whole plant provides a lovely aroma you can smell just walking past. Once established, root beer plant is sturdy and reliable, giving continuously until the weather cools.

You can grow it in pots and take it inside to overwinter as well. That way, you still get leaves year-round. You can buy seed for root beer plants online or from local specialty stores.

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One Herb You Don’t Want to Miss Out on Growing

How to Grow Root Beer Plant
By Brainy.Garden

Root Beer Plant is the local name for Piper Auritum, Hoja Santa, or Mexican Pepperleaf, a large-leaf perennial that grows in Zone 8 and above.This large plant is named for the odor of the leaves when rubbed. You can grow root beer plant easily.