Paracress plant
Acmella
oleracea, leaf
and flower, pile of
flowers..
Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Paracress along with all the Paracress containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 recipes in total.
e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Paracress as a major herb flavouring.
Paracress, Acmella oleracea (also known as Spilanthes oleracea, Spilanthes acmella, Toothache Plant, Brazil Cress, Para Cress and Jambú (Brazil) is a flowering plant that's a member of the Asteraceae (aster) family. It is native to the tropics of Brazil and is most commonly associated with the Pará region of Northern Brazil. It has been spread and naturalized to many regions of the world because this small erect plant grows quickly and sends up beautiful gold and red inflorescences. It is frost sensitive, but is perennial in warmer climes. Seeds can be easily obtained from specialist seed merchants.
The leaves are used as an herb and the flower heads (fresh or dried) are used as a spice. Paracress has no particular odour, but when eaten it has an interesting flavour that slowly develops from pleasant and salty to a strong, tickling-burning pungency that leaves a numbing sensation in the back of the mouth and throat. This is a sensory quality that paracress shares with Sichuan pepper, water pepper and Tasmanian pepperberry.
The pungent flavour of paracress is due to an unsaturated alkamid, spilanthol, which reaches its highest concentration (1%) in the flowers; additionally, other pungent alkamides (isobutylamides of hendeca-2E,7Z,9E-trienoic acid and hendeca-2E-en-8,10-diynoic acid). In other work there are reports of C9 polyunsaturated alkamides. These compounds are chemically and physiologically related to the sanshools found in Sichuan pepper. Pungent, nonvolatile sesquiterpenoids have also been found (polygodial and eudesmanolide II).
Paracress derives its name from the Brazilian province of Pará, where it is native. The other English name, toothache plant refers to the anaesthetic action of the alkamid constituents of paracress; chewing a paracress flower head is effective to damp toothache, at least for a while.
Culinarily, the use of paracress is almost wholly restricted to the Brazilian provinces of Acre, Amazonas, Pará and Ceará, where the herb is much used in the cooking styles of the indigenous peoples. There, the starch-containing tubers of manioc are eaten as a staple, and since that vegetable has a quite bland taste, it is often flavoured with potent spices. For this purpose, paracress is often used; the leaves are used fresh, added as a whole and eaten as an additional source of vitamins (and flavour). However, paracress is also used in Malagasy cuisine, where it is used as a leafy vegetable (and known as brède mafana).
The related species, Acmella paniculata is distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, the Philippines, southern China, and Taiwan, occurring in moist and weedy habitats from sea level to up to 2,500 m. The boiled leaves are sometimes used as a vegetable. In Java, however, the fresh leaves are used as a complement to hot sambal. The leaves of this plant are used by the Bodo peoples of Bodoland, Assam, India in preparing a spicy chicken soup, mixed with other common spices. Bodos believe that this soup provides relief from cold and cough.
The flower buds of Acmella species are known variously as Buzz Buttons, Szechuan buttons, sansho buttons, and electric buttons. They have an interesting taste sensation. Eating a whole flower bud results in a grassy taste, followed by an extremely strong tingling or numbing sensation and often excessive saliva production and a cooling sensation in the throat. They are sometimes used to offset the intense heat of chillies.
The nature of paracress means that to sample this herb you really need to grow it yourself. The good thing about it is that the leaves and flower buds may be harvested on an ongoing basis for fresh use. The flower buds may be dried and stored in an airtight glass container for up to one year.
e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Paracress as a major herb flavouring.
Paracress, Acmella oleracea (also known as Spilanthes oleracea, Spilanthes acmella, Toothache Plant, Brazil Cress, Para Cress and Jambú (Brazil) is a flowering plant that's a member of the Asteraceae (aster) family. It is native to the tropics of Brazil and is most commonly associated with the Pará region of Northern Brazil. It has been spread and naturalized to many regions of the world because this small erect plant grows quickly and sends up beautiful gold and red inflorescences. It is frost sensitive, but is perennial in warmer climes. Seeds can be easily obtained from specialist seed merchants.
The leaves are used as an herb and the flower heads (fresh or dried) are used as a spice. Paracress has no particular odour, but when eaten it has an interesting flavour that slowly develops from pleasant and salty to a strong, tickling-burning pungency that leaves a numbing sensation in the back of the mouth and throat. This is a sensory quality that paracress shares with Sichuan pepper, water pepper and Tasmanian pepperberry.
The pungent flavour of paracress is due to an unsaturated alkamid, spilanthol, which reaches its highest concentration (1%) in the flowers; additionally, other pungent alkamides (isobutylamides of hendeca-2E,7Z,9E-trienoic acid and hendeca-2E-en-8,10-diynoic acid). In other work there are reports of C9 polyunsaturated alkamides. These compounds are chemically and physiologically related to the sanshools found in Sichuan pepper. Pungent, nonvolatile sesquiterpenoids have also been found (polygodial and eudesmanolide II).
Paracress derives its name from the Brazilian province of Pará, where it is native. The other English name, toothache plant refers to the anaesthetic action of the alkamid constituents of paracress; chewing a paracress flower head is effective to damp toothache, at least for a while.
Culinarily, the use of paracress is almost wholly restricted to the Brazilian provinces of Acre, Amazonas, Pará and Ceará, where the herb is much used in the cooking styles of the indigenous peoples. There, the starch-containing tubers of manioc are eaten as a staple, and since that vegetable has a quite bland taste, it is often flavoured with potent spices. For this purpose, paracress is often used; the leaves are used fresh, added as a whole and eaten as an additional source of vitamins (and flavour). However, paracress is also used in Malagasy cuisine, where it is used as a leafy vegetable (and known as brède mafana).
The related species, Acmella paniculata is distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, the Philippines, southern China, and Taiwan, occurring in moist and weedy habitats from sea level to up to 2,500 m. The boiled leaves are sometimes used as a vegetable. In Java, however, the fresh leaves are used as a complement to hot sambal. The leaves of this plant are used by the Bodo peoples of Bodoland, Assam, India in preparing a spicy chicken soup, mixed with other common spices. Bodos believe that this soup provides relief from cold and cough.
The flower buds of Acmella species are known variously as Buzz Buttons, Szechuan buttons, sansho buttons, and electric buttons. They have an interesting taste sensation. Eating a whole flower bud results in a grassy taste, followed by an extremely strong tingling or numbing sensation and often excessive saliva production and a cooling sensation in the throat. They are sometimes used to offset the intense heat of chillies.
The nature of paracress means that to sample this herb you really need to grow it yourself. The good thing about it is that the leaves and flower buds may be harvested on an ongoing basis for fresh use. The flower buds may be dried and stored in an airtight glass container for up to one year.
The alphabetical list of all Paracress recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 1 recipes in total:
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| Romazava Origin: Madagascar |
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