Quilquiña

Porophyllum ruderale · Herb

40 pairings

Quilquiña (Porophyllum ruderale) is the pungent raw herb at the heart of Bolivian and Andean cooking — the same aster-family plant known in Mexico as papalo, but claimed here by a wholly different kitchen. Its blue-green, oil-dotted leaves taste like cilantro amplified into something wilder: a green, citrus-and-rue rush with a soapy, almost gasoline-like edge. Pounded raw into llajwa, the fiery table salsa of Bolivia, it is the signature aromatic of highland and valley cooking around Cochabamba.

Picking a good onedrag

Just cut, leaves stiff and blue-greenLimp, blackened and slimy

Market freshBuy it sold as food, not lifted from a verge — roadside and nursery plants carry non-food sprays that washing will not lift.Everyday best

Where it came fromYour own plant, grown on from a food-grade start

The leafGreen and whole, an odd nicked or bruised edge

The stemBends before it snaps, cut end still pale

The liftStands, then folds over slowly

Smell at a bruised leafClear and pungent once you bruise a leaf

What to look for, from just cut, leaves stiff and blue-green to limp, blackened and slimy.

Preparing