Eryngium foetidum Carribean Culantro

If you cook Carribean cuisine (or hail from Southest Asia), you crave the familiar flavor of Culantro (Shado beni, Ngo Gai, Phak Chi Farang, Cilantro Coyote). It tastes like home. You won't find it in the local supermarket, but you can grow it in your garden.

Eryngium foetidum is known by many names around the world , Culantro, Racao, Shado beni, Cilantro Coyote, Ngo Gai, Phak Chi Farang. Its pungent flavor is essential to soups, stews, and sauces in many tropical cuisines and nothing else will do.

Culantro loves heat. It's perennial in zones 10-11, annual elsewhere, and does just fine in a pot. Plant as you would basil, but don't expect seedlings to appear for two to three weeks. They need warm soil, and high humidity, but take care not to over-water. The young seedlings dampen off easily. If you haven't grown up with the herb, treat it as an exotic tropical. It will germinate on schedule, but takes special care and some patience.

200+ seeds