Jambu

Native to Brazil, the toothache plant is one of the most fascinating plants I'm growing this year. In Spain and in Portugal, the plant is called jambu. It's known as paracress too, after a province in Brazil called Para. It's not a cress though, but a member of the daisy family.


First, its flowers look unusual. Second, when you chew on the leaves or the flowers, your mouth starts to tingle and eventually feel kind of numb. I like how the plant tastes (the initial taste is of a salted celery leaf) and I like the tingling too. Some spilanthes enthusiasts think of the plant as being beneficial to gum and mouth health and a general immune booster because of its seeming antiseptic properties.


Native Brazilians apparently use paracress in cooking, particularly in dishes that use manioc root. There's a stew called tacacá that I am trying to find a recipe for in English. Or I guess I could try to pick up my Portuguese lessons. All I know is that you need 1 galho de jambu.

In the meantime, toothache plant leaves are fine in salads. I also like to use it as a palate cleanser. A mouth-numbing tea may be possible as well as a mouth-numbing mouthwash. I was thinking a toothache plant salve may be useful topically for bug bites, but it might only have the tingly effect orally. The dried heads are said to be potent for about a year. On-line, you can buy 30 flower heads for $50.

Check out Gernot Katzer's spice pages for a lot of information about toothache plant including culinary uses and etymology. There's also a lot of interesting information about other exotic herbs.