Mexican tarragon 10X: concentrated extract of Tagetes lucida
Tagetes lucida is a perennial herb in the daisy family, native to Mexico and Central America. The plant grows to roughly forty to seventy five centimetres, carries narrow, glossy green leaves of about seven centimetres and puts out clusters of small golden yellow flower heads in late summer. You come across it on open plains, along field edges and roadsides, and in the temperate pine and oak woodland of Mexico and Guatemala. Its names change from region to region: Mexican tarragon and winter tarragon in English, pericon, yerbaniz or Santa Maria in Spanish, and yauhtli in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.
What makes the herb familiar to cooks is its smell. Brew it and anise comes through first, noticeably stronger than in the French tarragon it sometimes stands in for. In Mexican cooking the leaf goes straight into dishes as well. The plant also carries a long ceremonial history: under the name yauhtli it turns up in Aztec sources in connection with the rain god Tlaloc, and in parts of Mexico pericon still has a role in rituals around the start of the rainy season. That is ethnobotanical record rather than an established pharmacological profile; research testing the tradition is thin on the ground.
What 10X means
On an extract carrying an X, the number refers to how far the material has been concentrated: 10X usually means ten parts of plant material reduced to one part of extract. Exactly how that is done varies by producer and is rarely published, so treat the ratio as an indication rather than a standardised content figure. In practice it means you need far less of this pot than you would of loose leaf.
Use, storage and worth knowing
Dissolve a small amount in hot water and let it stand for a few minutes. The taste is herby with that characteristic anise note, and a spoon of honey covers the bitterness. Store the pot cool, dry and dark, and keep it out of reach of children. Not suitable for anyone under 18, and not to be combined with alcohol. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or taking medication, talk to your doctor first. This herb is sold as a botanical product and not as a medicine, and its use remains your own responsibility.
At Avalon Magic Plants you will find the same plant as loose dried herb in a 20 gram bag, and in the same category ginkgo biloba extract 10:1, panax ginseng extract, motherwort extract 12:1 and yerba mate extract 10:1. Your order leaves our warehouse in discreet packaging.
