Latin name: Tagetes lucida
🌱 Days to Sprout: 4-14
😋 Plant Food: after true leaves
✂️ Thin to: 1 plant per yCube
🍅 Days to Maturity: 75-85
💡 Light Zone: Moderate
📏 Plant Size: <1 ft
💚 Care Level: Intermediate
Origin
Also known as Winter Tarragon, Yerba Anis, Mexican Marigold, African Marigold, and Sweet Mace, this cousin of the marigold is native to Mexico and Central America. Tarragon is said to have been used as a ritual incense by the Aztecs and as a key ingredient in a medicinal tea used by the Huichol.
Qualities
The toothed, thin leaves share the flavor of traditional French tarragon with a pleasant anise scent. Mexican Tarragon is believed to have anti-nausea, antifungal, and antibacterial properties, and the flowers are edible too.
Use
Use fresh or dried Mexican Tarragon leaves and flowers to season poultry, seafood, and vegetables, or to pair with soft cheeses. The flavor pairs especially well with lemon, pear, and black pepper. You can also steep the leaves or flowers into a refreshing herbal tea.
Care & Harvest
✂️ Pruning: Remove leaves with brown spots if they appear. Check the roots monthly and trim any that are brown or extending past the yPod. Prune flower buds as they appear to delay bolting and encourage continued leaf growth.
🔎 Plant Health: Aphids are a common pest, but you can use our prevention tricks to keep them at bay!
🌿 Harvest: Harvesting frequently helps prolong the plant's life. Once the plant reaches 8 inches tall, you can begin pinching off larger, individual leaves, or use clean shears to cut stems above growth nodes. Leave ⅓ of the plant to ensure continued growth. To harvest flowers, pinch off at their base. To dry the plant for long-term storage, tie fresh-cut branches together and hang-dry until the branches snap instead of bending before stripping off the leaves and flowers.
Harvest To Plate Recipe
Potato, Swiss Chard, and Tarragon Salad
Photo / Recipe Source: Edible Houston
Ingredients
- 1 pound yellow potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Mexican Tarragon
- juice of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lime
- zest of ½ lemon
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch swiss chard, washed
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook diced potatoes in salted water. When soft but still firm, use a slotted spoon to transfer immediately to ice-cold water. Drain well and transfer to a bowl.
- Mix together chopped tarragon, lemon juice, zest, lime juice, mustard and olive oil. Let infuse.
- Strip the leaves off the chard stems. Dice the stems, chop the leaves fine.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet and add the chard stems. Stir-fry briefly, then add the leaves to wilt. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate and let cool completely.
- Chop the chard mixture smaller with a kitchen knife (fine enough to mix well with the potatoes).
- Mix together potatoes and tarragon dressing. Spoon through chard and finish to taste.
Our Plant Health & Nutrition Team thoroughly tests each variety we offer to bring you the most flavorful and high-quality plants. We regularly rotate our plant portfolio, so please note, availability varies.