Cilantro
 

Today I learned that cilantro is coriander.

I just thought I'd share that with you. :)

Blech. Tastes like soap to me. Anybody else? Or am I weird? I don't like salsa that has cilantro in it.

I like it. Can't do Thai cooking without it. But it's good for lots of other dishes as well.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Thank you!
And Juniper - good lord, I thought it was only me.

I'm baffled by how many up-market sandwich makers have a hard-on for it.
Proper naan bread has a very slightly soapy aftertaste, which I assume must have a link to coriander somewhere along the line, but I've grown to like that.

I love cilantro. Salsa without it is not really salsa. Its great in so many dishes, but has to be used sparingly - it is rather potent.

I thought it was only me, too. I can't stand cilantro. There is a mexican restaurant here that is great except they can't seem to not load cilantro into everything. I'm glad it's not just my weird taste.

Thank you for posting this!
My husband and I tried making a recipe the other day that called for "fresh coriander" and were absolutely baffled because all we could find were the coriander seeds.
Now the mystery is solved.

I have the same experience S123. And yet coriander seeds in Indian dishes = awesome.

Cilantro is readily available on the east coast, because it's popular for masking the smell of pot, being trucked across the country. ;)

Did I mention I LOVE cilantro?

:lol:

Learn something new everyday. So I have two cilantros in my spice cabinet. That's a good thing cause I love cilantro. Especially in a Thai Fry.

Huh. I'm surprised how many people didn't know they were the same thing. But then again, maybe that's because around here cilantro is common as dirt and nobody carries exotic Indian things like "coriander." If you want coriander at all, you have to know it's really cilantro. :)

What's the other big thing that goes by two names...? Oh yeah, scallions and green onions. Those are the same too.

I am trying to think of what some people call bell peppers, it sounds like another fruit or veggie, but I can't come up with it, even through google.

Oh, duh...found it:

I used to work in a produce market when I was a kid, and thought WTF are these people talking about? Mango is a fruit!

Then you had the customers looking for them there Vandalia onions. Vandalia is where the Dayton INternational Airport is...not VIDALIA!

Oh, and, true story: my work buddy through HS and college had a woman from India come up to her and my friend thought she was asking her where she had been. My friend was like "um, I've been right here!?!" She wanted to know where the green beans were: where have you bean?

Those were such great times, sigh!

They get called shallots or spring onions here also, although shallots and spring onions are slightly different, they are often have the same applications anyway, so it doesn't matter either way too much unless you're a food nazi.

Fresh corriander is alway available over here. I have it growing in my herb garden even, but I've never seen it referred to as cilantro, but I've heard chefs and cooks refer to it on cooking shows and yesterday they gave a close up view of it and I realizes it was corriander. So now I don't have to live my life wondering what in the hell cilantro is and why the rest of the world is so special and no one in Australia has it.

If a recipe called for spring onions, I wouldn't substitute shallots or vice versa. I'm not a food nazi - just that shallots are far milder and I've only ever had them cooked. Spring onions are quite feisty and often eaten raw, or flash fried to retain their crunch.

Just to clarify - a spring onion or scallion has a tiny bulb, barely wider than the shoot. It had an intense almost spicy flavour, but is still acceptable enough to the palate to dip and eat on its own.

Ooh, found pics so we can be sure we mean the same thing :)
BTW there is a type of onion which looks like a spring onion on steroids - can't for the life of me remember what it's called. It's imported and personally I steer clear.

The ones on the left look like shallots to me but because the bottom is a bit wider, some people would refer to them as spring onions.

The ones on the right look like small onions, but they wouldn't be refered to as spring onions. Probably more likely to be called pickling onions over here.

I knew it.

Can't stand it whatever it's called. Tastes like old socks.

The ones on the left are spring onions, green onions or scallions.
The ones on the right are shallots - milder and oval in shape, often used in pickling.

Well there you go Sundae. Our two definitions are not even close. ;) Totally the opposite in fact it would seem.

I know now though. :)

True. Salsa without cilantro ain't much salsa. I've met others who say cilantro tastes like soap to them, and I can see where these people are coming from -- there is something soapy about cilantro's flavor but it doesn't go far enough in that direction to read to me as soap. But it hits some other people that way.

You guys are nuts! You don't substitue any of those ingredients, you use them all! Especially cilantro!!!!! Who in the heck thinks they make good salsa without it? Or pico de gallo or heck, even tacos? There is no replacement!!!

I just love that cilantro! Mmmmm.....I just made myself hungry for my tacos.

you can't be referring to leeks, ??? although they fit the description

leeks are yumm. specially in potato soup! or in a chicken pie.

In India, we usually call them capsicums. (That is the latin name, so it's not too crazy.)
As for the cilantro=soap thing, I've heard that it's a genetic variant present in 15-20% of people...

Ya mutants. :alien2:

a mutation to dislike cilantro?

Attachment 18935

We have capsicum over here too. Bell peppers are something else entirely

that above, we call a red bell pepper. Same as the green ones, only riper. y ummy!

Yeah...I love them in stirfry or salad. Even by themself makes a nice snack.

What we call bell peppers over here are smaller and very hot. They kind of look like a small squashed up capsicum. I'll see if I can find a pic.


eta: Attachment 18936

This is what we call a bell pepper in my part of the world. As you can see they look very much like a small capsicum.

I thought Cilantro sounded like a good name for medicine.

Cilantro = coriander

Bell pepper = capsicum?

Cantaloupe = rock melon?

Any more?

I thought cilantro sounded like a good name for a drink.

I hate cilantro also, can't stand it especially in mexican food or salsa. Even the smell bothers me, and now that I know its coriander I'll know to stay away from that too. Even thinking about it turns my stomach. Yea mutants!

interesting, Aliantha. I don't think we have those here ('tho we have many, many other chile peppers); they almost look like habaneros, which are the hottest. How deceptive!

"capsicum" properly refers to the entire plant family of peppers, I think. Or the stuff in them that makes them hot.

I've heard (whether it's true or not) that if you think cilantro tastes like soap, you are allergic to it. And all allergies do run from mild to awful; if you eat enough cilantro your mouth will itch.

I'd be interested to find out the ethnicity of those who hate cilantro. I'm mainly Brit/German...

Allergies are inherited, right? Certain ethnicities are predisposed to lactose intolerance. I have that too.

And I'm allergic to shrimp. It makes me puke. I like it, but it doesn't like me.

Those look like Scotch-bonnets or Habañeros -- flamin' hot, as Andy Capp might have said.

In the US, bell peppers are the big fleshy ones like your first pic, green, yellow, or orange or red, that you slice up for salads or chop up for pizza. There's a rather zingier variety of these called Mexi-Bells, possessed of a bit more heat. A fairly recent crossbreed.

A sprinkle of chopped cilantro gives a fresh, tingly quality to anything Mexican from tacos to pico de gallo/salsa cruda. It's also an excellent garnish for soup.

Now I wonder how many native Mexicans have that dislike of cilantro.

You'll also run across the name "Chinese Parsley." Still cilantro.

Coriander more often refers to the seeds, around here. Bash 'em up in a coffee grinder as a curry powder ingredient: coriander, green cardamom, cumin, a bit of cayenne, fenugreek, optionally turmeric... grind fresh from the seed whenever possible.

Now what do you suppose is so rocklike about a cantaloupe?

We're the same with bell peppers, Ali. Small and hot.
The big red pepper above is just that - a red pepper!

I've found the big beefy spring onions. Turns out they are just a variant spring onion. They still look a bit weird to me. More common in America apparently.

Oh, Ali - while looking for spring onions I found out that calling spring onions "shallots" is an Australian thing. From wiki Another case of same word, different meaning!

Heee...my mom bought me a clematis to plant and I told her it sounded like an STD. Then she talked about planting a cyclamen and I asked if that was the new 4 day treatment for clematis. :lol:

salsa must have cilantro... I also use about even parts tomatoes and tomatillos in my homemade chunky salsa recipe. Have the green salsa variants made it out of the New World yet?

I agree with the need for salsa to contain cilantro, though I disagree with the "sparingly". I used to sell my salsa and I always used an entire bunch or two in every batch... stems and all. I puree the stems along with all other ingredients to make the base and use the nice leaves whole and mix in slightly chunky ingrediants to make a wonderful salsa. I've always felt it was the secret trick that made my salsa so much better despite the fact that I use all the same ingredients... more or less.

I guess it would be way better if you can stand the smell and taste of cilantro. That's a matter of perspective.

SEems most people love it though.

Amen to the tangy tomatillo. Can't make a decent salsa without it.

I've never seen them on sale here.
It's possible they are sold in specialist places like Borough Market, but the local specialist grocers tend to be Indian, Chinese or Afro-Caribbean, so I haven't come across them yet.

I'll ask my colleague, she's a bit of a foodie and cooks everything from scratch, including salsa.

ever notice that food threads usually get a lot of activity?

It's really fun for me to talk with people in other parts of the world about food. People are passionate about food, and no wonder.

:lol:

He tried to ride a cylamen
he took a bad spill
but when he rhododendron
he just looked like a dill

Sweet!

cilantro==:vomit:

Apparently, cilantro is one of those foodstuffs that you either love or hate! There's no happy cilantro medium. ;)

I wouldn't say I love it, but it has it's applications just as any other herb. For instance, I've never put it in salsa because I'm not really fond of the flavour being that strong, but I think Thai food loses a lot of depth without it. I also use it as a general herb when I'm cooking.

I'm sure some people love it, but if we're talking about eating raw herbs, I'd probably go for parsely over cilantro. There's just something about parsely that I love. I put it in almost anything. Especially mashed potatoes. Yum.

Fresh chopped parsley is good there, but smashed garlic is even better. Or minced heated in the butter, and the whole added to the taters.

I love parsley too. In restaurants I will request the parsley from those who don't want it. It's good to eat just straight even.

Garlic and potatoes do go together. I sometimes put a small amount in to flavour them, but when I have dinner with my friends family who are Greek, the potato is always loaded with it, and it's meant to be used more as a sauce for other foods on the plate rather than to eat on its own.

J is making meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes right now!

Agreed. Living her in New Mexico, many of the "Mexican" restaurants tend to OVERuse cilantro.

It is blech.:vomitblu:

It's like licorice flavored soap, though.

Once attended a church potluck dinner--covered dish, or whatever they're called. All the different serving dishes lined up on mismatched banquet tables, paper plates and plasticware at one end, dessert and soft drinks at the other. There were salads, ninety-nine different kinds of potatoes, meatballs, crockpot surprise, etc. One of the salads looked good, very rich green, all diced up fine, like a cobb salad. I took a big serving spoon of that one, and continued down the line, filling my plate as I went.

I found a place to rest my plate on my knees and I took a big spoonful of that chopped salad.

Big mistake.

It was cilantro all the way down. I think there might have been a red pepper waved over the bowl at some point for color, but there was no challenging the potency of that cilantro. Right there, in that one spoonful, I received my recommended lifetime allowance of cilantro. Yup, I'm good to go--permanently.