3 Hmong Plants for Your Home Garden

The history of the Hmong people spans centuries and is incredibly complex. Originating in Southern China, they were displaced repeatedly throughout history, finding temporary homes in Southeast Asia. Eventually, after the Laos Civil War and the Vietnam War, 180,000 Hmong people who had been in refugee camps in Thailand resettled in Western countries including the United States, France, Canada, Argentina, and Germany.⁵

Today, the Hmong population in Wisconsin exceeds 58,000 people.¹ Over the many migrations of the Hmong community, their cuisine has gathered influences, expanding outside of traditional Hmong cookery and adopting dishes from other cultures.⁵

This has created a unique patchwork of global ingredients, flavors, and techniques. Here are just a few herbs and vegetables you might find in a Hmong-American garden!

Thai Chilis

Despite their name, Thai chilis, also known as bird’s eye chilis, are native to Mexico. Like many other spices, herbs, and peppers they traveled globally with Spanish and Portuguese colonization and trade. Thai chilis are small but mighty, clocking in at around 50,000-100,000 Scoville units which is spicier than even the hottest jalapeño.⁹

Like many other Asian cuisines, Thai chilis have found a home in Hmong diaspora food. They’re used to add spice to recipes like pho (fawm) which originated in Vietnam, Hmong hot pepper sauce (kua hov txob/kua txob), and more!⁴

Lemongrass

Lemongrass is native to Southeast Asia,⁶ and is used throughout its many cuisines. It has a light, lemony flavor, without the sour and bitter notes of citrus. Lemongrass is easy to grow in warm and wet climates, and it needs plenty of sunlight to thrive. It rarely flowers, but prolifically grows rhizomes that can be divided.⁷

Lemongrass makes stunning broth and pairs well with seafood. It’s included in many Hmong dishes like chicken tofu (nqajqab xyaw taum paaj/nqaijqaib xyaw taum paj)⁴ and roasted herb fish (nqaj ntseg xwv).³

Mugwort

Mugwort is a medicinal herb that is native to China. It’s one of the traditional plants that has been carried from place to place as Hmong communities have resettled in new homelands. The Hmong people in Thailand boil mugwort into chicken soup⁸, like the recipe for boiled chicken with Hmong medicinal herbs (tshuaj Hmong hau ntsug qab)² that our Hmong Culinary Garden was inspired by. The Hmong community uses mugwort as a treatment for fevers and other ailments.⁸

You can find all of the herbs and vegetables featured in this article, plus many more, in the Hmong Herb Garden within the Herb Display Garden. Food is an important part of culture, and every dish has a story.

If you’d like to learn more about Hmong communities and their cuisine, a visit to your public library is a great next step! With a vast array of resources authored by cultural community members, you’re sure to find reliable information to deepen your understanding of and appreciation for global cuisines. Plus, the Appleton Public Library even has a section dedicated to Hmong literature and resources for learning about Hmong culture! Be sure to stop by if you’re ever in the area.

Sources

1. Behnke, Duke. “Living in Wisconsin: ‘Hmong People Are Truly American, If Not More American than Most Americans.’” PBS Wisconsin News, April 13, 2022. https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/living-in-wisconsin-hmong-people-are-truly-american-if-not-more-american-than-most-americans/.
2. Her, Cindy. “Boiled Chicken w/ Hmong Medicinal Herbs (Tshuaj Hmong Hau Ntsug Qab).” C. Her Creations, November 11, 2019. https://chawjcreations.com/boiled-chicken-w-hmong-medicinal-herbs-tshuaj-hmong-hau-ntsug-qab/.
3. Her, Cindy. “Hmong Style Roasted Herb Fish: Nqaj Ntseg Xwv.” C. Hawj Creations, July 11, 2018. https://chawjcreations.com/hmong-style-roasted-herb-fish-nqaj-ntseg-xwv/.
4. Keown-Bomar, Julie, Nancy Coffey, and Kong Vang. Hmong Cookbook. Altoona, WI: UW-Extension, Cooperative Extension, 2008, 5-15.
5. Lee, Gary Yia, and Nicholas Tapp. Culture and Customs of the Hmong. New York, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024, 1-2, 147.
6. Lyon, Stephanie. “Lemongrass.” University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, March 18, 2024. https://www.uwsp.edu/sbcb/tropical-conservatory/lemongrass/.
7. Mahr, Susan. “Lemongrass, Cymbopogon Spp.” Wisconsin Horticulture Division of Extension. Accessed August 2, 2024. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/lemongrass/.
8. Nguanchoo, Varangrat, Prasit Wangpakapattanawong, Henrik Balslev, and Angkhana Inta. “Exotic Plants Used by the Hmong in Thailand.” Plants 8, no. 11 (November 14, 2019): 500. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8110500.
9. Zulkif. “Bird’s Eye Chili.” Sultan Alaeddin Suleiman Shah College, March 28, 2023. https://kosass.upm.edu.my/article/birds_eye_chili-72100.