Fresh leaves. They can grow to sizes of 30 cm and more.

Since dried or fresh leaves are hard to get outside of tropical México, cooks often will need a substitute for Mexican pepper­leaves. The best option is to grow the plant, which turns out rather decorative and surprisingly robust.

Mexican pepper leaf plant

The canonical substitute for pepper leaves that is widely used even in México are avocado leaves, but only Mexican avocado types (Persea drimy­folia ) have scented foliage; avocados from other regions are mostly Persea americana with insipid leaves.

Curiously, many Mexican cookbooks targeted to an English audience suggest this substitution and argue with the potential toxicity of pepper leaves. Indeed, their safrole content is rather high and not completely without risk, although Mexicans don’t care much about it. Yet scented avocado leaves contain exactly the same chemical, and thus offer no health advantage: If they are as fragrant as the authentic pepper leaves, then they are as toxic, too.

Shrub of Mexican Pepper

Mexican tarra­gon or even ordinary French tar­ra­gon will work well as substitutes in recipes that use puréed leaves, but will of course fail for recipes that use Mexican pepper-leaves as wrappers for fish, poultry or tamales; in the latter case, Thai basil (horapha type) can be tried, although those leaves are much smaller.



Shrub of Mexican Pepper