Fresh Eryngium foetidum

Specifications

Uses:

1/ Culinary: E. foetidum is widely used in seasoning and marinating in the Caribbean, particularly in Panama, Puerto Rico andTrinidad and Tobago. It is also used extensively in Thailand, India, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia as a culinary herb. It dries well, retaining good color and flavor, making it valuable in the dried herb industry. It is sometimes used as a substitute for cilantro, but it has a much stronger taste.

In the United States, E. foetidum grows naturally in Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It is sold in grocery stores as a culinary herb under the common names; "culantro" and/or "recao".

2/ Traditional medicine

Ethnomedicinal uses include treatment for burns, earache, fevers, hypertension, constipation, fits, asthma, stomachache, worms, infertility complications, snake bites, diarrhea and malaria. Eryngium foetidum is also known as Eryngium antihystericum.The name Eryngium antihystericum reflects the fact that this plant has traditionally been used as a treatment for epilepsy. The plant is said to calm a person's 'spirit' and thus prevents epileptic 'fits' (seizures). The plant is therefore known by the common names spiritweed and fitweed. The anticonvulsant properties of this plant have been scientifically investigated. A decoction of the leaves has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

Eryngial is a chemical compound isolated from Eryngium foetidum. Ralph Robinson, a Professor of Parasitology at the University of the West Indiesat Mona, Jamaica, has investigated the use of enyngial as a treatment for human Strongyloides stercoralis infection (strongyloidiasis).A fraction of the essential oil rich in eryngial is the subject of a US patent application for its effectiveness against parasitic trypanosomes, nematodes, fungi and bacteria in humans and other mammals.