Culinary Herbs Plan: Earth Matter Peru, 2026–2027

Version 1, 15 October 2026. Dried herbs, Sal de Maras herb and chili salts, a pachamanca rub, ají flakes and seeds, and Macha Andina.

🌶️ What this line is

The Brooklyn table, brought to Chupaca: dried herbs from the farm, herb and chili salts on Sal de Maras, a dry pachamanca rub, ají flakes and toasted ají seeds, and a Peruvian-style salsa macha made with ají panca and mirasol.
Don't compete with Sibarita on basics. Mass brands sell oregano at S/ 3.90 for 50 g and ground ají panca at S/ 8.40 for 250 g, and fresh herbs and whole dried ajíes are cheap in every market. Sell what they don't: blends, huacatay and muña dried, salts, the rub and the macha.
Who buys: Huancayo home cooks and Bioferia shoppers, tourists and gift buyers taking Peruvian flavors home, and restaurants for the salts and macha.
Tools jog memories: eucalyptus spice scoops and salt spoons from the woodshop, Aco ceramic salt cellars, and a batán on the table as a prop.

💰 Products, costs and prices

Product	Size	Materials and package	Retail	× cost
Dried herb, single (huacatay, muña, rosemary, thyme, culinary lavender)	15 g	S/ 1.00	S/ 5	5.0×
Huacatay & Garlic Salt	100 g	S/ 3.44	S/ 12	3.5×
Ají Panca Salt	100 g	S/ 3.57	S/ 12	3.4×
Muña & Lemon Salt	100 g	S/ 3.29	S/ 12	3.6×
Rosemary & Lavender Salt	100 g	S/ 3.86	S/ 12	3.1×
Any salt, refill pouch	100 g	S/ 1.99	S/ 8	4.0×
Pachamanca Dry Rub	60 g	S/ 3.72	S/ 14	3.8×
Ají Flakes (panca, mirasol, rocoto, with seeds)	40 g	S/ 2.03	S/ 8	4.0×
Toasted Ají Seeds	30 g	S/ 0.85	S/ 5	5.9×
Macha Andina (Peruvian-style salsa macha)	200 g	S/ 5.13	S/ 18	3.5×

Planning prices: Sal de Maras S/ 12.17 per kg (Campo Grande, listed); dried ajíes about S/ 35–50 per kg, dried herbs S/ 30–40 per kg, vegetable oil S/ 9.50 per liter, peanuts S/ 12 and sesame S/ 20 per kg (estimates); glass jars with metal lids S/ 1.80 (100 ml) and S/ 2.20 (200 ml), glassine envelopes S/ 0.40 (estimates). Herbs from the farm cost less than these figures.

Refill pouches (S/ 8) keep salt buyers coming back with their own jar.
Toasted ají seeds are nearly free: they come out when you seed ajíes for the macha.
Restaurants: 500 g bags of the salts and the rub, and 1 kg macha, at about 60% of retail.

📋 Recipes

Product	How
Herb salts	85–88% coarse Sal de Maras, 12–15% dried herbs and aromatics. Grind the herbs coarsely, mix by weight, rest a day in a closed jar so the salt takes the aroma. Huacatay & Garlic: huacatay 8, solar-dried garlic 7. Ají Panca: panca 15, cumin 2, garlic 3. Muña & Lemon: muña 8, dried lemon zest 7. Rosemary & Lavender: rosemary 8, lavender 4.
Pachamanca dry rub	Per 60 g: huacatay 15, muña 10, ají panca 10, Sal de Maras 10, cumin 5, garlic 5, oregano 5. Rub on meat or potatoes with a little oil, or stir into marinades. The dry version of the herbs cooks bring to a pachamanca.
Ají flakes and seeds	Toast whole dried panca, mirasol and a little rocoto in a dry pan until fragrant, cool, seed (keep the seeds), and pulse to flakes. Toast the seeds separately until golden and salt lightly.
Macha Andina	Per 200 g jar: 120 g vegetable oil, 18 g ají panca and 12 g mirasol (seeded, toasted, crumbled), 25 g garlic sliced thin, 15 g peanuts, 6 g sesame, 3 g Sal de Maras, a pinch of sugar. Fry the garlic slowly in the oil until golden and fully crisp, then the peanuts and sesame; take off the heat, cool 2 minutes, stir in ajíes, salt and sugar; cool completely before jarring.

⚠️ Making the oil safely

Botulism is the risk. Garlic, chilies and herbs are low-acid and can carry Clostridium botulinum, and oil shuts out air. Raw or cooked fresh garlic or herbs in oil must be refrigerated and used within about three weeks.
What makes macha different: everything in it is dry. The chilies are dried; the garlic is fried until all its water is gone and it shatters. Nothing fresh, no water, no herbs, no lime goes in after frying.
Until a laboratory measures water activity on your recipe, label it “Refrigerar después de abrir. Consumir en 1 mes” and sell it within three months of making it. A lab result is also what DIGESA will ask for to register it.
Allergens: label peanuts (maní) and sesame (ajonjolí).

🌱 Grow or buy

Herb	Where and how	Decision
Huacatay	Already in the head-zone flower strip; let a few plants seed	Grow
Oregano, thyme, rosemary, chives	A small perennial herb bed outside the rotation cells, for example in the head zone or by the shed; cover rosemary on frost nights	Grow
Muña, spearmint, lemon balm (toronjil)	Perennial patch; mints spread, so keep them in a bordered bed. Muña is often wild-harvested: buy from collectors who cut, not uproot	Grow and buy
Lavender, calendula	Already in the farm plan	Grow
Lemon verbena (cedrón), lemongrass (hierba luisa), rocoto	Frost-tender at 3,300 m: the Chupaca greenhouse or nursery, or buy	Greenhouse or buy
Ají panca, mirasol, cumin, anise, cinnamon	Coast and Selva crops; buy dried	Buy
Garlic, lemons, oranges	Buy fresh and dry in the solar dryer	Buy and dry

The farm plan file (v7) isn't in this session; when it is, the perennial herb bed can be drawn into the head zone.

☀️ Drying and processing

Harvest herbs in the dry morning before flowering peaks, dry in shade or the Chupaca solar dryer under cloth at about 35–40 °C until the leaves crumble, then strip from stems.
Slice garlic and dry citrus peel the same way. Grind with a dedicated spice grinder or the batán; sieve; store in closed glass away from light; label lot and date.
Keep the culinary room and tools separate from the soap and candle work: no lye, wax or fragrance oils near food.

⚖️ Rules

Packaged, branded seasonings and the macha are processed foods needing a DIGESA registro sanitario per product (a consultancy lists S/ 390 per product, five years), laboratory analysis, and a hygiene certification of the workspace. Confirm with DIGESA.
Practical path: fairs first with honest labels and lot numbers; register the two or three best sellers (likely a salt and the macha) before supplying shops and restaurants.
No health claims (no “digestivo”, “antiinflamatorio”, “quema grasa”).
Labels: ingredients in order of weight, net weight, lot, best-before date, maker and contact, allergens.

🗓️ Calendar

When	What
Oct–Nov 2026	Price ajíes, Sal de Maras, jars and glassine; dry garlic and citrus peel; test the four salts, the rub and two batches of macha; ask a laboratory for a water-activity quote.
Dec 2026	Christmas fairs: Huacatay & Garlic and Ají Panca salts, ají flakes, seeds and macha (refrigerate after opening); gift sets with tea.
Jan–Apr 2027	Plant the perennial herb bed; restaurant samples; refill pouches.
From May 2027	Farm huacatay, muña and rosemary in the salts and rub; decide which products to register.

📚 Sources consulted

plazaVea, Makro — Sibarita oregano, ají panca and ají amarillo prices
Campo Grande Perú — Sal de Maras coarse, S/ 12.17 per kg; dried ajíes by the kilo
Maras Gourmet (SalMacaPanela) — Sal de Maras with spices in a grinder, sold abroad
Oregon State University Extension (2009) — herbs, garlic and vegetables in oil: botulism and safe storage
Hello Bite Society — US craft salsa macha, US$ 11.99 for 9 oz
registrosanitarioperu.com — DIGESA fee S/ 390 per product, five years (consultancy figures)

Culinary Herbs Plan: Earth Matter Peru, 2026–2027