Meaning & use
epazote
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Meaning
noununcountablespecialist
A pungent leafy herb used in Mexican and Central American cooking, especially to season beans, soups, and corn dishes.
Grammar: Usually uncountable as a food: add some epazote; a countable plant sense is rare.
Patterns
- season something with epazote
- add epazote to something
The cook dropped a sprig of epazote into the pot of black beans.
Epazote has a strong, earthy flavor that people either love or find strange.
She grows epazote in a pot on her balcony.
Common combinations
- a sprig of epazote
- Add a sprig of epazote near the end of cooking.
- fresh epazote
- Fresh epazote is hard to find outside Latin markets.
- dried epazote
- Dried epazote is milder than fresh.
- epazote leaves
- Chop the epazote leaves finely before adding them.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wormseed
- Wormseed is another common name for the same plant and sounds more old-fashioned and medicinal.
- Mexican tea
- Mexican tea names the same plant when brewed as an herbal drink rather than used in cooking.
Word family
- wormseed noun
- an English name for the plant
Commonly confused: epazote or cilantro?
epazote vs cilantro
Cilantro is a different, citrusy herb. Epazote is far more pungent, with a taste often compared to turpentine or mint.
Practice
In which dish would a cook most typically add epazote?
Choose one answer.
Epazote is a traditional herb for bean dishes in Mexican cooking. It would clash with sweet desserts and is rarely used raw in salads.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “epazote”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.