House & Garden Tour

Sun, Apr 19, tour departs at noon 
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
US$15 or 150 pesos
Breakfast at Café Santa Ana starts at 9am

House & Garden Tour
By Jennifer Hamilton

Four water walls, a heart-shaped sculpture and whimsical collages 

1. The owner of this home has designed others which have been House & Garden favorites for several decades. The house is filled with light from enormous windows on all sides, a movable glass ceiling above the main hallway and views from every room. Two master bedrooms flanking the main hallway have balconies looking down onto a reflecting pool and fountain. The house has four water walls.

Stairs lead to the living room and unrivaled views of San Miguel’s churches and spires to the north. A morning room adjoins the kitchen with its granite counters. Carved doors were handmade locally. A skylight was added to the dining room which leads outside to a large patio filled with plants, terraces and a rock-filled pond. A media room and guest bedroom are on the lower level, along with a gym, steam room and wine cellar. A separate casita on this level has its own private entrance. From the rooftop visitors have a 360° view over the town, lake and mountains. 

2. This colorful home was built several years ago and in 2005 the owners asked local artist Michael Sudheer to furnish and paint it in the Mexican style.

Rife with color, almost every wall, every piece of furniture is a different shade, yet all blend beautifully together, flowing from room to patio, roof garden to bedroom. Anado McLauchlin, another local artist of great repute, created two collaged mirrors. A heart-shaped sculpture surrounds the Virgin of Guadalupe on the fireplace. Sculptural pieces of tin facing cupboard doors add yet more drama. Two outdoor entertainment areas are separated by an iguana-tiled fountain, a flood of flowers and a plethora of color. A Guatemalan huipil adorns one of the walls in the guest bedroom with its metal bed and view of the patio and fountain downstairs. For extra light, a circle cut into a bóveda ceiling was fitted with glass. A large roof terrace is rampant with plants and flowers, adding yet more color to this fabulously fun yet comfortable home

3. This multihued home is spacious and bright, filled with colorful artwork, furnishings and objets d’art. In the sala, a table from China is constructed out of stone bordered in wood. An arched hallway has a long, vaulted ceiling and copper walls filled with beautiful photographs.

A large orange painting and cemento pulido countertops offset the color of the bathroom walls. The turquoise-colored master bedroom is filled with color from the walls to the fireplace, with a dazzling cut-metal screen in the corner. Anado McLauchlin created the artwork and whimsical collage pieces (one of his mirror creations hangs over the bathroom sink). The master bath is painted in gentle gradations of green and blue and contains an impressive Chinese apothecary cabinet. The brilliant star lamp in the guest bedroom had to be disassembled to fit through the doorway! Organ cactus, flowers, plants and vines are placed among the brick, stone and gravel garden with its beautiful fountain.

Food & Wine
Hoja santa, a leaf and a legend
By Victoria Challancin

I’ve heard it said that hoja santa (Piper auritum) tastes like anise with hints of tarragon, black pepper, nutmeg, and sassafras thrown in.

Perhaps. But to me, the name given to the plant in the southern US says it all: root beer plant. Crush one of the velvety, heart-shaped leaves in your hand, and you’ll know what I mean—that’s root beer, pure and simple. It’s hard to imagine that one plant could capture so complex a flavor, but hoja santa does just that.

Indigenous to Mesoamerica, where it grows wild, the plant is common in the cooking of Central America and the Caribbean. On one trip to the state of Oaxaca, I was amazed to find that almost every house had its own cultivated hoja santa plant growing nearby. Enchanted, I was given a plant to take with me when I attended a class taught by the knowledgeable Zapotec cooking teacher, Reyna Mendoza, a native of the village of Teotitlan del Valle.

A four-foot plant with a large ball of roots and clinging dirt, it was placed in a plastic market bag for me and the smiling gardener was sure that I would have no problem returning with it by bus to San Miguel de Allende. I have often wondered what the women who cleaned my beautiful room at La Noria in Oaxaca thought when they found trimmed hoja santa limbs and extra soil tidily piled in my bathroom as I attempted to pare my prize to a portable size.

Well, lug it home I did. Through four bus stations and in two taxis, I schlepped along with my precious cargo. Determined to have a constant source of this surprising plant, I finally made it home. Although I must protect it in the winter and baby it in the summer, it is a thriving source of culinary wonder. 


A little history

Mexico is a land of legends and the story of how hoja santa, or holy leaf, got its name is among the most fascinating. When the Virgin Mary needed a place to dry the diapers of baby Jesus, what better spot than atop an hoja santa plant, which would not only serve as a clothesline, but also impart a very pleasant aroma? Charming and practical.

As with many much-used plants, the name varies in Mexico. I may know it as hoja santa, but others call it acuyo, yerba santa, hierba santa, hoja de anís and anisillo. In English it is often referred to as “Mexican pepperleaf” or “root beer plant.” The Aztecs called it tlanapaquelite. Botanically, it is sometimes confused with kava kava (Piper methysticum), and for that reason is also called “false kava.”

One internet source, whose material I can’t vouch for, gives its medicinal properties according to Aztec use as: stimulant, analgesic and stomachic. It was said to be used by the Aztecs for asthma, bronchitis, laryngitis and apnea. Other sources in Spanish reveal that these properties are still considered valid today, that it is used topically for skin irritations and alcohol-soaked leaves are placed on the breasts of lactating women to increase milk production. As an infusion, people drink it to stimulate digestion and to calm colic. Sources say it has diuretic and anesthetic properties as well. A homeopathic tincture of hoja santa is often employed for bronchial infections and asthma.

In the US, the FDA has been less kind. Because, like sassafras, it contains the essential oil safrole—known to be carcinogenic in animals—some sources consider it to be toxic. As an ingredient, safrole was banned in the sixties and production of root beer extract now uses artificial flavorings. However, Wikipedia refers to an article that states “toxicological studies show that humans do not process safrole into its carcinogenic metabolite.” Dangerous or not, hoja santa is used extensively in the cooking of Mexico, particularly in salsas, stews, and tamales.

Although the leaves can be chopped and added to dishes, a more common method uses the leaves as a wrapper, much like corn husks. I have added it to mole verde, Oaxacan-style, to serve over fish, ground it into hot chocolate and served it as a base or “plate” for both fish and eggs. The beautiful and tranquil Posada Corazón in San Miguel serves its signature egg dish, huevos enojados (angry eggs), in a wrapping of hoja santa.

When I first introduced the leaves to Mexican students in my Mexican cooking classes here in San Miguel, they knew of its existence but had never cooked with hoja santa. Now I have a fairly consistent stream of people asking to borrow a few leaves or a cutting of the plant.

If you are lucky enough to have an hoja santa plant growing in your garden, try introducing it into your cooking as a guaranteed surprise for your guests. Elusive, indescribable and delicate, the aroma is sure to haunt.


Fish in Hoja Santa Leaves

For the Fish:

10 hoja santa leaves, stems removed

4 fish fillets (snapper, tilapia, sea bass, or any mild white fish), approximately 4 oz each


For the Sauce: 

8 ounces tomatillos, husked, cleaned and roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 serrano chile, or to taste

1/2 cup chopped, blanched hoja santa leaves

1/4 cup water

Sea salt to taste


Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Blanch the hoja santa leaves for about 30 seconds. Drain and rinse in cold water or refresh in an ice bath.

Lightly grease a baking dish with butter or olive oil. Line the bottom of the dish with 4 overlapping hoja santa leaves. Cover the bottom completely with the leaves. Note: the number of leaves could vary depending on size.

Season fish fillets with salt and pepper. Place fish on top of the leaves in the baking dish.

For the sauce: Place the tomatillos, garlic, chile, 1/2 cup chopped hoja santa leaves and water in a blender. Pulse to form a rough sauce. Season to taste with sea salt. Pour the sauce over the fish. Top with the remaining hoja santa leaves, tucking in the edges to completely cover the fish. Bake for 15 minutes or until fish is cooked through. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fillets.

Alternate cooking method: Wrap the fish in the blanched hoja santa leaves. Place in a sauté pan with a cup of water. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until fish is cooked through. Serve with the sauce. 

Note: Tomatillo sauce can be served either raw or cooked, as preferred. To cook, simply place the chopped or puréed ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until tomatillos have turned from a bright green to a slightly olive green color.


Victoria Challancin is the owner of Flavors of the Sun International Cooking School, which offers classes for Mexican maids/cooks and also by appointment. Victoria writes a food-oriented monthly newsletter as well. To be on the mailing list, email Victoria at flavorsofthesun@yahoo.com.