Vietnamese Coriander

Persicaria odorata

herb

Vietnamese Coriander (Persicaria odorata), called rau ram, is a sprawling tender perennial in the knotweed family whose narrow, pointed leaves - often marked with a dark chevron - taste like a hot, peppery, lemony cilantro. It is a workhorse herb of Vietnamese and wider Southeast Asian cooking, eaten raw in salads, spring rolls, and noodle bowls and added at the end of cooking. Crucially for hot-climate gardeners it never bolts the way cilantro does, staying productive all summer. It loves warmth and constant moisture, even shallow water, and roots so easily from cuttings that one plant quickly becomes many; north of zone 9 it is grown as an annual or overwintered indoors.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Lemongrass — A fellow Southeast Asian herb that enjoys the same heat and ample moisture
• Thai Basil — Pairs in the kitchen and the garden, sharing warm, moist, sunny conditions
• Mint — Another vigorous moisture-loving spreader that thrives in the same damp bed or pot

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Aphids →

  Rinse colonies from the tender shoots; they are most common on stressed or indoor-overwintered plants

• Spider mites →

  A risk on dry indoor plants in winter - raise humidity, keep the soil moist, and rinse leaf undersides

• Leaf miners →

  Pick off and destroy mined leaves and keep plants vigorous so they outgrow light damage

🌾 Harvest & storage

Harvest Vietnamese Coriander by snipping the top few inches of the sprawling stems as needed; frequent cutting keeps it bushy and tender, and the trimmings root readily to make new plants. Always use the leaves fresh - the flavor is lost when dried or cooked long - adding them raw to salads, noodle soups, spring rolls, and as a garnish, or stirring in at the very end of cooking. Strip the leaves from any tough lower stems before use.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Vietnamese Coriander supplies the hot, peppery, citrus-cilantro flavor essential to rau ram and many Vietnamese and Southeast Asian dishes - eaten fresh in herb salads, summer rolls, noodle soups such as pho, and egg dishes. It is always used raw or added at the last moment, since heat and drying destroy its flavor, making it a fresh-only seasoning herb that conveniently replaces cilantro in hot climates where cilantro bolts.