My cilantro tastes like stinkbug

[rotuts]

isnt the cilantro 'soapy' taste a genetic trait? i love the stuff. not soapy here!

[FeChef]

Either you are one of those who cannot smell stinkbug ....or you were so sh!tfaced that your sense of smell was shot.

Its possible. But im thinking maybe there are different species of stinkbugs, and the ones we have around here dont smell, or maybe only male or female stinkbugs smell, or maybe they only smell when they mature. We get alot of these bugs and i dont recall them ever smelling, but maybe im imune to there smell.

We have two stinkbugs in my part of the world...the native greenish-backed one (which is almost pretty) and the invasive brown bug from somewhere in Asia (Korea, I think) which are far more numerous and about as stinky as the native.

How does cilantro taste to you?

I find the cilantro I buy when eaten raw chopped up on a taco, taste almost mint tasting. I actually started putting it on my lamb Gyro's and it really pairs well with the cucumber,tomato, and onion.

[Ttogull]

I find the cilantro I buy when eaten raw chopped up on a taco, taste almost mint tasting. I actually started putting it on my lamb Gyro's and it really pairs well with the cucumber,tomato, and onion.

Same here. Not mint, but that direction. Provides a freshness or brightness when raw. For a treat, put cilantro AND mint in, say, grilled ground lamb kabobs.

Some of my neighbors smell the stinkbugs we have around here (dunno their position on cilantro). "You can't smell that?!" Nope.

[annabelle]

Cilantro doesn't taste like mint. Mint is very distinct. Fresh cilantro is a must have around my house and I agree that the problem may be growing it in the same pot as parsley. Frankly, cilantro doesn't grow worth a damn around here since it's too hot and the stuff bolts in hours if you don't cut it practically everyday. There is a species of butterfly that also likes to lay its eggs on it and you can go out one day to see a potful of stumps and caterpillars.

Cilantro can taste like soap to some and it is a genetic trait. It may be on the same spectrum of tastes that causes some to dislike asparagus. One of my sons hates them both while the other loves it.

[gfweb]

To me cilantro=soap, but asparagus is delicious.

[SobaAddict70]

you can substitute a small amount of finely chopped carrot tops for cilantro. taste it initially to see if it's agreeable, then proceed as normal.

[rotuts]

different gene. the Asp. might only be the excretion issue.

[annabelle]

Yes. That's why I said spectrum.

[gfweb]

you can substitute a small amount of finely chopped carrot tops for cilantro. taste it initially to see if it's agreeable, then proceed as normal.

To me, carrot greens don't taste anything like cilantro, soap or stinkbugs.

[gfweb]

different gene. the Asp. might only be the excretion issue.

I've read of reports suggesting its not the excretion or metabolism of asparagus but the ability to smell it in pee that differs among people.

[rotuts]

interesting.

[FeChef]

interesting.

Actually, Im finding it more and more un-interesting. I think this thread is going to ruin cilantro for me. I can just see myself in the grocery store smelling cilantro trying to find soapy stinkbug smells. Thanks OP.

[gfweb]

interesting.

Actually, Im finding it more and more un-interesting. I think this thread is going to ruin cilantro for me. I can just see myself in the grocery store smelling cilantro trying to find soapy stinkbug smells. Thanks OP.

It never smells like soap to me. I have to eat it. And the stuff in the market doesn't smell like stinkbug to me, just my ex-cilantro plant. So you should be safe.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Add one to the "sort of minty in a pleasantly green watercress-y way" flavour perception for Cilantro; I can't smell stinkbugs either (at any time, although I've never been so hungry as to want to eat one), and I do perceive the asparagus pee smell. Definitely a spectrum thing going on.

[gfweb]

Got a new plant. The thing has two leaf types. One that is a flat leaf and the other that is like a carrot top. The latter stuff has a snipped stem it is associated with ....like a flower was cut off. The carrot looking stuff is pure stinkbug. The flat leaf stuff has none of that taste and tastes like vegetation. Nothing remarkable.

[FeChef]

Got a new plant. The thing has two leaf types. One that is a flat leaf and the other that is like a carrot top. The latter stuff has a snipped stem it is associated with ....like a flower was cut off. The carrot looking stuff is pure stinkbug. The flat leaf stuff has none of that taste and tastes like vegetation. Nothing remarkable.

Thought you were going to stick to just buying it? Its so cheap it probably would cost me more to grow it.

[heidih]

Got a new plant. The thing has two leaf types. One that is a flat leaf and the other that is like a carrot top. The latter stuff has a snipped stem it is associated with ....like a flower was cut off. The carrot looking stuff is pure stinkbug. The flat leaf stuff has none of that taste and tastes like vegetation. Nothing remarkable.

When parsley looks like that it is going to seed. I tried to get a shot of the developing seed heads, the little more carroty leaves and the true parsley leaves. (ignore mint in background!)

[gfweb]

Got a new plant. The thing has two leaf types. One that is a flat leaf and the other that is like a carrot top. The latter stuff has a snipped stem it is associated with ....like a flower was cut off. The carrot looking stuff is pure stinkbug. The flat leaf stuff has none of that taste and tastes like vegetation. Nothing remarkable.

When parsley looks like that it is going to seed. I tried to get a shot of the developing seed heads, the little more carroty leaves and the true parsley leaves. (ignore mint in background!)

Here's a photo. The cilantro is on the left with the carrot like stuff at the upper right of the plant. Parsley is in the pot too.

Yes I did indeed decide to buy rather than grow but my curiosity got the better of my judgement.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Cilantro (at least, the cilantro I grow) looks like that when it's maturing - the broad leaves are, for want of a better term, "baby" leaves, and the finer ones are the mature leaves. The baby leaves have very little of the compounds that make cilantro taste and smell the way it does, but the mature leaves are right full of cilantro-y goodness. I don't even bother harvesting until I see the feathered growth.

Incidentally, if you leave that it will flower in about 3 weeks.

So here's a question for you: how hot has it been in your garden lately? Hotter weather induces earlier maturation in cilantro, and can concentrate the flavours more heavily in the feathered growth....

[annabelle]

I was going to ask if the cilantro had bolted, but from your photo I'd guess not yet. I believe your weather has been very mild for this time of year, too. Was the plant pot-bound when you planted it? It may have forced itself to early maturation.

[gfweb]

The weather has been cool. But the plant came from a market where I think it got some greenhouse sun. <br /><br />

[annabelle]

I just went out and checked on my parsley and it has gotten extremely leggy in the past week. It's been unseasonably cool here lately, but decided to warm up a few days ago, so I guess it's taking advantage of the sunshine. I had weathered this parsley in my greenhouse last winter and it was moved into a larger pot before it went back out. Generally, it does very well, but I have it shaded by the stairs that run up to my second floor deck.

[furzzy]

this might be genetic: both the soapy impression of cilantro and tasting stinkbugs.

people who like cilantro would not call it soapy, and they dont taste stinkbugs.

interesting genetic link, previously undocumented.

Another AHA, moment. I knew about the gene for hating cilantro (and one's inability to change) but this is an interesting side link/thought on the subject.