But we looked it up: Culantro is a cousin to cilantro. They’re members of the same botanical family, Apiaceae, commonly known as carrot or parsley family.*

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), which looks like flat leaf Italian parsley, and culantro (Eryngium foetidum), which has elongated leaves, have a similar (but not identical) flavor and aroma. Culantro is much stronger in flavor, and is used in smaller amounts.

Easy-to-grow culantro is native to Mexico/Central America and is cultivated worldwide. It first grew wild at the edge of forests, so grows well in partial shade.

Culantro can be used as you would use cilantro, and is an essential ingredient recaito, a Caribbean green salsa used to flavor numerous dishes.

RECAITO & SOFRITO

In the Caribbean, culantro is commonly called recao, which gives its name to recaito, a popular green sauce/salsa used to flavor a variety of dishes. Recaito is an aromatic purée of culantro (recao), green cubanelle peppers (similar in flavor to to bell peppers but longer, with thinner flesh and lightly more wrinkled), onions, garlic and ajies dulces (small red bell peppers).

Recaito is used in bean and rice dishes, soups and stews, often added toward the end of cooking as a finishing touch to the recipe. Add a tablespoon of it to your next rice or bean dish; you’ll love the bright flavor.

Culantro is also the base of sofrito.

RECAITO RECIPE

Ingredients

If you can’t find all of the ingredients, substitute green and red bell peppers for the cubanelle and aji dulce peppers; and substitute cilantro for culantro.

 
Preparation

Let’s hope those folks don’t discover culantro.
  

Launching on Sunday. April 22—Earth Day 2012—the Do Something Reel Film Festival affords the opportunity to watch some of the best food-focused documentaries online.

It’s sponsored by Whole Foods Market and partners that include Applegate Organic & Natural Meats, Earthbound Farm Organic and Siggi’s Cultured Dairy Products.

Each year, a number of terrific food films are released but get limited distribution. Even we, who would love to see them for professional reasons, don’t have the time to get to wherever they may be showing.

But stream them online at DoSomethingReel.com, and we’ve got a whole month to tune in.

The Do Something Reel Film Festival is a much-needed showcase for provocative films about food and environmental issues. Viewing is on a pay-per-view basis. Ticket sales help to fund filmmaker grants for new projects.

Launching This Sunday

The online film festival opens on April 22, with a live screening of “The Apple Pushers,” narrated by the actor Edward Norton. It will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s writer/director, producer and other experts.

While there is a charge to watch the film, the panel discussion can be viewed free online from April 22nd to April 30th.

The film follows five immigrant street-cart vendors who sell fruits and vegetables in New York neighborhoods where fresh produce isn’t widely available. The vendors personify what it means to be an American entrepreneur, and their stories shed new light on the nation’s food crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates.

Each month the festival will showcase a different film online. Following “The Apple Pushers,” the films currently slated are:

So mark your calendar for a monthly movie night with the Do Something Reel Film Festival. It’s your opportunity to connect with these important films and their thought-provoking issues. And you’ll see how your everyday decisions and purchasing power can make a difference.

For additional information, a complete schedule of events and details about the grant program, please visit DoSomethingReel.com.

Last night we tried a new restaurant. At the table, folded into our napkin, was a sprig of rosemary. There was a sprig of rosemary in our water glass. The food we ordered came garnished with rosemary.

“There must have been a sale on rosemary this week,” we said to our companion.

“No,” he said, “the planters out front are full of it.”

We looked, and rosemary was indeed growing high in terra cotta pots on the outdoor patio. Had we been moving so quickly that we forgot to stop and smell the rosemary?

We decided to hunt down a rosemary plant this weekend, to see how many different things we could do with the sprigs. Then, we received a tip on growing mint that caused us to switch gears. We’ll get to the rosemary later; today’s tip is an encouragement to use more mint—and different types of mint.

The mint you plant will soon bear enough leaves to keep you in beverages (including cocktails), desserts, salads, soups and garnishes for the entire growing season.

TYPES OF MINT

Much of what you find in the market is spearmint. But there are other wonderful varieties of mint to enhance your cooking: Head to your gardening store.

 
GROWING MINT

Mints are fast-growing, spreading plants. You need to give them room to grow outdoors, or you can contain them in a pot—outdoors or indoors.

Mints send out runners that spread above and just under the ground, quickly forming large, lush green patches. In the right place, mint makes a sensational, seasonal ground cover. You can also contain mint in tight places such as between pavers of a walkway.

Mint perfumes the air wherever it is planted: It delivers an aromatic treat each time you walk past it.

Here are mint-growing tips from Bonnie Plants, a national plant wholesaler committed to green gardening. The company makes eco-friendly gardening products and biodegradable peat pots and fiber pots that have already prevented millions of pounds of plastic from entering landfills.

MINT GROWING TIPS

1. POT IT. The most popular way to grow mint is in a pot where you can keep it contained and handy near the kitchen for a constant supply of sprigs. Choose a potting mix that retains water to be sure soil stays moist.

2. PLANT IT. If you have outdoor space, select a damp area in your garden in either full sun or partial shade. Mint prefers fertile soil with a pH from 6.0 to 7.0. It is vigorous on its own but will appreciate a little fertilizer every few weeks, especially if you harvest a lot of mint.

You can also mulch around the plants to keep roots moist; plants will die back in dry soil. Keep plants in check by harvesting the tips regularly and pulling up wayward runners in the garden. Mint’s small flowers bloom from June to September. Trim them before the buds open to keep the plant compact.

When cooking with mint, it’s best to use the leaves. Mint stems are tougher than leaves and not as flavorful.

 
If you have lots of mint, share the wealth with neighbors and friends.

For more info and tips on mint and other herbs visit BonniePlants.com.