USES: As a pungently flavored cooked herb, typically with black beans, but also with a wide variety of sauces in all but west-central and northern Mexico.

FINDING: In some Mexican groceries, growing wild in many places, cultivated in your own garden.

CHOOSING: In Mexican groceries, epazote can be rather wilted. It will still be good for cooking.

STORING: Once picked, in the refrigerator, in a glass with water, as you would cut flowers, loosely covered with a plastic bag; or in the refrigerator, rolled in a very lightly dampened towel, in a plastic bag.