Cilantro

[scubadoo97]

it can go black on you but I've chopped a bowl of it and had left overs the next day will not problem. Fresh herbs are always better fresh. Why the need to do it ahead of time? The longest time in prep is cleaning the sand off it and drying it. Chopping only takes a minute at most.

[snowangel]

I find cilantro goes slimy faster than most other herbs, so be sure and wrap it in a paper towel and store it in a plastic bag. I have have also gotten to the point where I just rip it up with my hands!

[birder53]

I have done most of my prep work today so I can assemble and dress this slaw when I get to the party. I have sliced cabbage, carrots and peppers in a large container. Sliced scallions are in a plastic bag and I wanted to do the same with the cilantro. I guess I could just chop the cilantro tomorrow morning and bag it. I won't be able to do more than blend everything together at the party. The kitchen is tiny and I don't want to take up space in her kitchen to do anything but toss everything with the dressing. I guess I can clean it today so all I have to do is chop tomorrow. I didn't want to end up with a black, slimy mess.

[BigboyDan]

Treat cilantro as you would basil. If you need to cut it up in advance, just leave it out in a bowl uncovered, it will dry out, but not much. It will get black stored in a bag or in the fridge, as the humidity will be high.

[sanrensho]

Chopping the cilantro in and of itself won't cause the leaves to go black. If the cilantro is old, then it will turn black regardless of whether you chop it or not.

I often chop up cilantro in advance and keep it stored in the fridge. As long as its fresh and there's some moisture, it will store fine.

[Goatjunky]

When I rip it (like snowangel) rather than actually chop, it seems to last a little better. It doesnt get that bruised, for lack of a better word, look to it or get slimy. I too wrap the leftovers in a paper towel and then in plastic bag but it doesnt last too long even that way.

[Grub]

I agree with everyone else here. I store cilantro wrapped in a paper towel, in a plastic bag, and whenever I use any, I discard the paper town and get a fresh one, and also turn the plastic bag inside out.

While I don't rip it by hand (that sounds like a good idea, though), I always wait until the last minute before chopping it -- if it is to be drizzled on top of the food, I don't chop it until I've plated.

I've heard it claimed that if you chop cilantro with a knife, it will take longer to turn bad, if you use a ceramic knife -- has anyone got any experience with this? The sharpness of the knife isn't the point, but the ceramic blad is supposedly better than a steel knife...?

[budrichard]

NO!-Dick

[Jacquester]

Well, I'm surprised that more people haven't responded to this topic. From my own survey of friends etc. I find a big split on this.

My vote...I hate cilantro with a passion. Not sure if soapy would describe it for me but "nails on a chalkboard" would explain how I feel about it.

[Blether]

In Japan coriander has the reputation of tasting like 'kamemushi' or "Brown Marmorated Stink Bug" (who knew ?!) amongst protagonists. Being as universal in much of Indian and SEA cooking as parsley is further west, is it seen in those places as such a love/hate thing ?

Personally I grew to like it. With a two-week cycle before it goes to seed, it takes some commitment to grow, and it's hard to find value buying it cut at supermarket prices. I don't always use it where I'd like to.

I think it works especially well in guacamole (try small amounts till it reaches your comfort level) and many Indian curries, not least the perhaps-tired-but-reliable Butter Chicken. At the same time, I do respect others' tastes - so no coriander surprise. I think it goes against the basic tenets of cooking to push anything on anyone who doesn't like it.

[Jaymes]

Certainly ubiquitous in Vietnamese cooking as well.

I think it's a pretty foreign flavor for folks that haven't tried it until well into their adult years and, if that's your circumstance, it definitely takes some getting used to.

Personally, I love it.

Especially a big mound of the stuff sitting on top of my pho.

[Kouign Aman]

I love it, my husband couldnt care either way, and my kid, who is an adventurous eater, hates it ansd says it tastes like shampoo. Since she's never heard anyone talk about it, I'm going with the inherent difference in perception theory - genetic version.

[Pam Brunning]

It is a disgusting herb. It tastes and smells of bad meat. I just assumed that it became popular in the old days in Indian cooking to hide the flavours of rotting meat, so that it could be said that it was the herb that smelt and not the meat. My husband is allergic to it, just the smell wafting off of a hot dish smothered with it makes him feel sick!!

Our daughter wholesales herbs and she sells pallet loads of the stuff.

We love coriander seeds they are totaly different.

[rancho_gordo]

It's funny, in "real life" i rarely meet people who hate cilantro. And that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

Edited to add: my son, who is the pickiest person on earth, will eat it, despite the green color. He helped me grow it and I think that's part of the appeal and the oddly open mind.

Edited November 2, 2009 by rancho_gordo (log)

[LuckyGirl]

I too have always found the cilantro thing interesting.

It used to be that I could not stand cilantro. The soapy taste of it was so strong it could make my toes curl. Even the smell of it was offensive. This made eating the food of many of the cuisines that I really enjoy difficult. Cilantro was not palatable raw or cooked though cooking somewhat diminished the offensiveness.

Like Ronnie's experience mine was one where one day, all of the sudden I had a taste for it. How weird is it that one would actually crave something that had once been so hugely offensive?

I now adore cilantro and actually crave dishes where it is used.

I understand the genetic thing (somewhat) but what really perplexes me is how people's tolerance for it can change (in either direction).

It seems to me that for some reason, some folks have palates that are super sensitive to some tastes.

I can not stand anything made with goat's milk. I love the stinkiest blue cheeses, the runniest and or ripe cow's milk cheeses and the sharpest sheep's milk cheeses but anything goat is revolting to me. I can taste the tiniest amount of it no matter how buried it is in a dish. My sister once serves a pre-made, frozen quiche and I could not eat it for the taste of goat cheese. Everyone else at the table thought I was nuts as they didn't taste the goat's cheese (these are all people who eat goat cheese regularly and have pretty developed palates). My sister fished the box the quiche had came in out of the trash and of course, the ingredients listed goat's cheese. I was astonished that while it tasted so pronounced to me none of the other folks at the table could even taste it. That is when it occurred to me that some people just have palates that are super sensitive to some things.

The same is true for me with escargot. I can not stand the taste of them. To me, escargot taste intensely, intensely, like dirt. I would actually rather eat dirt than escargot. I love bulots but ground snails, no way jose.

[Pam Brunning]

Very interesting - we can't stand goat's cheese because it tastes of the billy - we put it down to having worked with animals all our life. Ducks when cooking can smell and sometimes taste disgusting if they have not been kept clean. I love escargot though!

[rancho_gordo]

I would think the key is to keep an open mind. I'm not so keen on rutabagas, at all, but I blame me more than the poor root vegetable, that obviously gives millions some kind of pleasure. I was sure a male cat had entered our workplace and sprayed the place, marking his territory, but it turns out it was an employee who had brought guava for lunch. I've kept trying and now I can eat quava (but it's banned at the work!)

[pastameshugana]

My whole family (my wife and I and the three midgets) are coriander fans. Here in India (in Bangalore, anyway) we're blessed with big, beautiful and cheap bunches of it at the market. Standing in the vegetable section, smelling the coriander and onion is enough to make the whole family crave salsa. My middle son will tear off some leaves while we're walking through the store and just sniff them the whole way (and my 4 year old daughter does the same with the curry leaves).

[Jaymes]

I would think the key is to keep an open mind.

Always the very, very best suggestion. But difficult for some folk, methinks.

[OliverB]

I used to dislike it and yes, it smells like stink bugs we had sometimes on blueberry bushes in the woods in Germany.

Now I love it and add a lot to dishes that ask for it. My wife and kids love it too - so far at least.

Supposedly still hard to find in Germany and my parents had little success growing it. Neither did I here in NorCal for some reason. Other things grow fine, the cilantro turns yellowish and dies. But as it's easy to find large bunches I don't mind.

edit to add: the French bedbug story might be a translation problem. The bug I'm thinking of in Germany is called Stink Wanze, and the bed bug in German is also called Wanze or Bettwanze. Wanze generally means a flat roundish bug. Maybe in French the bed bug and other such bugs also have the same name? I've never come across a bedbug and don't intend to, but my mom knows them from her childhood. Never mentioned a smell though. I'll have to ask her. There are many such Wanzen on plants, only a few or maybe just one species has that smell. It can ruin your blueberry collection if you're not careful. Here's the bug I'm talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palomena_prasina

The German wikipedia has much more info but of course in German. If you can read it, find it here:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCne_Stinkwanze

Edited November 2, 2009 by OliverB (log)

[Darienne]

Just bought my FIRST fresh cilantro and the bunch has long tannish colored roots. Do I cut them off to store it in the fridge? Or leave them on?

Thanks.

[heidih]

You scored. The roots are a common ingredient in SE Asian cuisine, often pounded into pastes and marinades. I will let those more knowledgeable chime in on their uses in Latin cooking. They may not be appropriate for the recipe you are doing. What are you planning to make?

[Darienne]

You scored. The roots are a common ingredient in SE Asian cuisine, often pounded into pastes and marinades. I will let those more knowledgeable chime in on their uses in Latin cooking. They may not be appropriate for the recipe you are doing. What are you planning to make?

Interestingly enough I have absolutely no idea of what I am going to make. Something Mexican no doubt. I've made a number of things lately that call for cilantro...and left it out, of course.

Neither of us likes cilantro and I said: it's time to try it again.

I'd happily send you the roots...

I am open to all suggestions.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Interestingly enough I have absolutely no idea of what I am going to make. Something Mexican no doubt. I've made a number of things lately that call for cilantro...and left it out, of course.

Neither of us likes cilantro and I said: it's time to try it again.

I'd happily send you the roots...

I am open to all suggestions.

You could also go the Morrocan route; charmoula is a prevalent way to prepare vegetables and fish and calls for a LOT of cilantro. There are a ton of other Middle Eastern recipes that call for cilantro (although they call it coriander).

And, all these years later (since I first posted in this thread), I have learned to cook with it for friends, but I still can't abide the stuff. I have learned to "eat through it" when reviewing professionally, but only because I believe I know what it is *supposed* to taste like to others...

[nakji]

I tried to root cilantro in water with the hopes of growing it myself when I lived in Japan. It was hard to find there, and expensive when I did find it. It seems a lot of people in Japan feel the same way about the herb. I think I asked around and someone told me it's a very hard plant to grow, and my roots just withered in the water. In Cambodia, we had a great stuffed banana leaf, where the stuffing was cilantro root, garlic and kampot peppercorns crushed and mixed into minced pork.

Curiously enough, I was one of those people who hated the taste of cilantro the first time I tried it, but I kept eating it until I got over it. I think the Chinese also call it a "stinky herb", and it's quite commonly available here, used in beef and lamb dishes.