Asnapa, Useful Traditional Herbs for Your Kitchen
Every day, cooks use different plants as part of their ingredients when preparing those special dishes that we like so much since these plants add a special flavor to the meals.
As usual, when you market one of the main things in the list of products to buy is the “Asnapa”. It contains a variety of plants and its price varies depending on the amount you want. For example you could buy 1/S worth or 2/S. You can find asnapa all the markets and supermarkets.
The name asnapa comes from Quechua and simply means “herbs”. The ladies who sell in the markets pick these herbs and bring them fresh for sale each day. A bouquet of asnapa may contain parsley, cilantro, yerba Buena (mint), huacatay, oregano and, if it is special, it can contain even rosemary and muña.
The plants mentioned above are essential for most of our meals. For example, we use them for the preparation of rice with chicken. It depends on the flavor of the cilantro, Traditional soups require oregano and parsley, while at the end of meals we often take an infusion and muña is one of the best remedies for good digestion.
It is for this reason that in the kitchen you cannot miss your asnapa. After making your purchase you have to be very careful that it not wither as it would if you left it dry. You can put it in the refrigerator or, as recommended with any bouquet, you can to put it in water so you can use it for a while until you make your next purchase.
