Culantro AKA Recao

Close up of the seed pod

A few long leaves  with stems going to seed

Meet my culantro plant, he also likes to be called recao. I never heard of this guy until I came to Florida where I started to eat and make foods with Puerto Rican flavors. The scent and flavor are like a strong cilantro. To me, they are very similar but clearly not the same plant. Cilantro has delicate little fan shaped leaves similar to parsley. Culantro has long, serrated leaves and it's more hardy.

Though the flavors are nearly the same, I use culantro and cilantro in different ways. Because cilantro has delicate leaves, it's good in tacos, salsa and guacamole.  I like culantro in my sofrito and beans since the tougher leaves get well chopped in the food processor. It's also excellent in Vietnamese noodle soup, where you would break the leaves and let it steep in  the broth. So yum!

These pics on top and down below are of 2 different plants. I bought the one on top from the flea market and the other is rescued from a neighbors lawn. He had some growing on the side of the house that wandered into a pathway. We dug it up and put it in a pot so it wouldn't get trampled. They're definitely at different stages, which is cool to watch. The flea market one is tiny and has gone almost straight to seed. The rescued one is much larger and ready for harvest. I'm not sure how to store it, so I'm just letting it grow right now and pick off a few leaves as i need it.

close up of a mature culantro leaf

Adult culantro herb plant