Spicy Arugula
Garden Science: How a salad leaf's spicy peppery bite is also found w**d. + Review of Sonoma Hills Farm and Chef Chris Cosentino’s new Spicy Arugula culinary edibles.
You’ve had baby arugula, but have you had spicy arugula? Also known as ‘rocket’ the popular leafy salad green has a mild nutty, tangy flavor when harvested as young tender leaves. As the plant ages and moves through its lifecycle, the leafy green develops a more pungent spicy, peppery flavor and aromas in response to age and stress. Even more so in wild arugula.
Same, arugula. Same.
🧐 Washed and packaged in plastic bags filled with air, soft tender baby arugula can now be found at nearly every grocery store across America. Known as rucola or roquette, the salad green was once regarded as a weed and considered an “ethnic immigrant niche ingredient.” 🤨 Re-introduced as arugula in 1960 by New York Times food critic, chef, and cookbook author Craig Claiborne, a food journalist who was “instrumental in introducing the American public to a wider range of international cuisines.”
In my garden, a wild field of arugula re-seeds itself to provide an endless bounty of nutrient dense, spicy, organic greens. I let the flowers go to seed and collect the pods for sharing and replanting. FREE FOOD!
What else smells and tastes peppery and spicy?
Garlic, wasabi, radishes, and super skunky, gassy w**d also contain volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) that are responsible for this signature scent and flavor profile. Wild arugula’s spicy bite comes from sulfur compounds that act as a natural defense mechanism against pests.
Beta-caryophyllene, an organic aromatic compound in plants and c*nn*bis (that’s good for pain relief, inflammation, and mood), has a spicy, woody, musky flavor and aroma that’s similar to cracked pepper, cloves, and rosemary.
FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS
In a recent post, I recommended Sonoma Hills Farm Spicy Arugula for those who might be feeling stressed and struggling with anxiety, but can’t be high all day. The low potency 2:1:1 blend of 🫖HC, C🐝D, and CBG was designed with celeb chef Chris Cosentino to provide relief for his anxiety and physical body aches and pain.
The collab got its name because the resulting blend has a similar spicy, peppery aroma and bite as the popular salad green. I got to try his White CBG ice cream with meringue shatter at Hall of Flowers 2024, and wow, it was a crazy flavor bomb that tasted like chewing on a fresh bud plucked from the field.
After years of friendship, collaborations, conversations and experimentation Sonoma Hills Farm and Chef Chris Cosentino announced the launch of their very first edible, the Spicy Arugula Gummy.
“This is not a candy gummy. It’s a culinary one.”
Join me for a taste test and review!
“Why This Edible Had to Exist
Chris is a serious cyclist. He moves through the world with intention and momentum. There are plenty of moments where smoking doesn’t make sense. But as a chef, he was never satisfied with the edibles available.
Too sweet.
Too artificial.
Too flat.
Too focused on T*C alone.
So he challenged us to build something different.
He wanted a true ratio ed*ble. A real balance of cannabinoids, not marketing math. He wanted something uplifting and calming at the same time. And he wanted flavor to matter just as much as effect.”
