Intense dislike for specific herbs/spices?

[Matonski]

I made a pork dish involving some fresh sage that was chopped and sprinkled on the top. The rest of my family ate it and thought it was all fine and well. However, I couldn't stand the taste of the sage. Even thinking about it now makes me a little queesy. Interestingly, I also made a cabbage dish that had some caraway seeds in it, and my brother couldn't even swallow it. I didn't notice any intense flavor in it that would make someone hate it, but then again, he didn't notice anything about the dish with sage. A similar thing happened once when I made a bulgur dish with cloves. Is it common to have an intense dislike for some herbs/spices? Perhaps I did something wrong? I don't think I put too much, everyone else eating any of the dishes didn't notice any stand out herb/spice taste.

[Syrah]

I cannot eat fresh coriander. The very thought of it makes me want to throw up. I can however cope with the roots ground or in curry pastes.

My boyfriend has a less severe aversion.

Question though, how do you feel about rosemary?? I find sage to be very pungent like rosemary and I adore them both.

[Pan]

Yes, I think it's common for people to hate particular herbs or spices. My brother has a dislike for cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cilantro, dill, and celery (which is used as an herb in some Chinese food). He can have a little of most of those but is pretty sensitive to the taste. My parents dislike cilantro. I like all of those herbs and spices, and it requires some thought for me to come up with things of that nature that I don't like. I don't like osmanthus flowers, which are used in some Chinese sweets -- they taste like eating strong perfume to me. I also don't like mint -- except in herb (leaf) form. Too much sage bothers me, but it's a good taste in moderation. Excessive thyme makes a dish taste like medicine, but again, it's a great ingredient in moderation. I think it's not too easy to find spices and herbs I really hate, but I definitely think that's common for other people.

[tamiam]

Anise, fennel, and anything licorice-flavored. Bananas, mayonnaise.....not herbs, but yuckkkkk, even the smell gets me.

[maremosso]

I adore anything licorice flavoured..

Dill and fresh coriander, on the other hand...

[Tonyy13]

Funny story, well, to me anyway....

When I was deciding about which culinary school I wanted to attend, me and my father went to both the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales in the same road trip. Well, at both places, we were invited to eat in student run restaurants, gratis, in order to better judge the quality of hte student that each of the respective universities were producing.

We at at the Bistro at the Airport Radisson just off of the Johnson and Wales Campus. We had roasted chicken breast, airline of course, this cut seemingly makes a boring piece of chicken exciting, somehow...., and some sort of wine sauce w/ rice pilaf. Dessert came and it had one of those damn sugar cages on it (crap, really, crap...) and I was the most impressed person in teh dining room, let me tell you....

Now, when we went to the CIA, we dined in teh Escoffier Room, their premier dining room, reservations required and all of that. Looking back, that meal was overly superb, but my uneducated palatte was not able to distinguish it. This was no moe evident than when a cuban shrimp cocktail was brought to the table, served w/ a mango and black bean salsa, which contained cillantro. Well, I couldn't even put any of the mango salsa in my mouth, I had never had cillantro, and even asked my dad to taste it for his opinion on whether or not it was rotten!!!

Poor CIA, an 1/8 of a $.50 bunch of cillantro cost me spending 4 years there!!!!!

PS Hindsight is 20/20... what I would do to have that decision back....

[Fat Guy]

On the food smells topic I told the uncomfortable story of my intense dislike for rosemary. I reiterate it here:

Back in 1986 when I was a junior in high school I spent Christmas in California at the home of some friends of friends. They were warm, wonderful, generous people who also happened to be excellent cooks. This was the era during which people who could cook French food were referred to as "gourmet cooks."

Anyway, for about a week we ate very well indeed. But for Christmas dinner a turkey was prepared according to a recipe from some magazine, probably Gourmet, and the recipe involved the entire rosemary harvest of the state of California. There was rosemary under the skin of the turkey and there were pieces of it sticking out of the skin, making the turkey look like a chia pet or a hedgehog. There was rosemary in the stuffing. And there was rosemary in the gravy. For good measure, a rosemary potato dish was prepared as one of the sides.

Well, let me tell you, there is a certain saturation of rosemary beyond which there is no turning back. I ate so much rosemary that, for the next two days, my breath smelled of rosemary, I was burping rosemary, and even my sweat had a rosemary edge to it. My reaction to it became increasingly visceral, so much so that later in the week when I smelled rosemary upon walking into a restaurant I became dizzy and weak kneed and needed to brace myself against a stranger to keep from passing out (nobody in Los Angeles considered that behavior to be the slightest bit odd, though, and she actually wound up inviting me to a party, but that's another story involving a DWI checkpoint and the questionable status of my New York State junior driver's license).

To this day, if I get a serious hit of pure rosemary smell I still have that reaction. Even just writing about it has sent me into a mild panic.

[deltadoc]

I find the smell and taste of fresh chopped cilantro difficult. I can take only a very small amount of it. Ground cumin is also a bit difficult. A little goes a long way.

But fresh mint, rosemary, basil, thyme, Italian parsley, French Tarragon (capitalized for a reason!), and almost any other herb or spice I find to be just wonderful!

doc

[NulloModo]

I love sage, rosemary, mint, cloves, cilantro, pretty much any herb, and most of them in great quantities.

The only ones I really have trouble with if there is more than a hint are Tarragon and Thyme. Something about them seems overpoweringly leafy and bland even though they have a distinct taste. I will use them in spice blends and all, but I haven't been happy with anything I have cooked using either of those as the primary flavor element.

[fifi]

Most herbs and spices I like fine when used in appropriate amounts. There is one, though, that I can only tolerate a teeny tiny bit . . . cilantro. I think we discussed some time ago that the reaction to cilantro may be genetic. My kids have the same reaction. We say it tastes like soap with a nasty musky edge and a metallic twange. My sister and nephew say it tastes bright, fresh and green. Go figure.

I think that Fat Guy's reaction to rosemary could happen to any of us if absolutely assaulted by a strong flavor like rosemary. (What were they thinking? The visual of a chia pet turkey has me laughing out loud.) I have to be careful about sage. I really like it in moderation but somehow I know that there is a line that must not be crossed.

[petite tête de chou]

For the life of me I can't think of a single herb or spice that I don't like.

In fact I sometimes crave dishes saturated in specific herbs. A bean burrito stuffed with cilantro, a pile of fresh dill with my lox and bagels or handfuls of fresh basil on a cheese pizza is so, so good.

[Della]

I too love fresh herbs and we grow quite a few in the garden.

That said, I can't really stand cilantro, although I will put it in salsa since there are other people around that love it in salsa and I don't cook for just one.

I hate hate hate hate hate sesame seeds. If there is one sesame seed on a crust of bread it is all I can taste - literally. The flavor is overwhelming to me and I think it is just horrible.

I also don't like pesto but I like all the ingrediants that go into pesto.

[viva]

I can't stand fennel or licorice flavor of any kind. The slightest whiff makes me shudder.

My mother has the same strong reaction to nutmeg and rosemary. I love rosemary, but agree that quantities must be limited!

[Bond Girl]

I've not met a herb or a spice that I did not like, but it's really depends on how one use it. Too many chefs forget that "less is more" mantra.

[saskanuck]

I like all herbs and spices, but tarragon, thyme, and mint need to be used in moderation, lest they overpower the dish.

I love fresh cilantro, and so does my husband. It has that fresh green scent and taste about it that reminds me of summer.

[andiesenji]

I love most herbs and grow them in abundance. I have rosemary hedges and trees, not just plants and one, at least, is threatening to take over the entire corner of the garden as it is breaking out of its concrete and brick planter.

However, I prefer to have them in moderation in my food, they should never overpower the dish but should enhance the flavor or be a counterpoint.

The one thing that really gets to me is when too many juniper berries have been used in a dish or infused into a sauce.

It takes on a turpentine taste that I can't get rid of and afterward, everthing that goes into my mouth takes on the taste, even milk.

I think liking or disliking cilantro is a genetic thing, however I also beleive that one can develop a taste for it, IF you have it in the right context.

Not in salsa, to get the best of it, you should combine it with a fatty substance.

A little piece of carnitas or even just a bit of roast pork, cut thin and put a tiny bit of cilantro and some onion on it, roll up the piece of pork and taste. I have introduced a lot of people to cilantro this way and usually they find that it tastes a lot different than it does on its own. You have to use it sparingly, however.

And never, never, never pair it with fish. I can't eat it with fish and I love cilantro any other way.

[birder53]

I absolutely love cilantro. The only herbs I find tricky to use are tarragon and majoram. Even thyme can overwhelm my tastebuds at times and I have successfully substituted rosemary for it in several recipes. I guess the key here is moderation since some of these flavors are quite assertive.

[The Hersch]

I find nutmeg utterly revolting. I think it may have something to do with eggnog, which is also utterly revolting (and would be even without nutmeg).

About the cilantro thing being physical/genetic (I've also heard allergy explanations): I wonder how common the alleged physical aversion to cilantro is in parts of the world like southeast Asia where it's an integral part of the indigenous cuisine. And why did we stop calling it by its English name and start calling it by its Spanish name?

[karma police]

I love every herb and spice, except one: TARRAGON. I find it positively repulsive. It is sad becuase it is used so extensively in traditional French cooking. Every time I think I will try it again, I will make a dish, people will rave, and I can't get two bites down....

[Hest88]

I really don't like rosemary or cardamon, two items that seem to be in a lot of foods I would otherwise love. Not too fond of cilantro either, unless it's masked in some form---such as in salsa.

[ratgirlny]

Mint makes me nauseous. I can't even stand a slight whiff of it.

On the other hand, cilantro and tarragon are my two favorite herbs.

[Gastro888]

I can't stand excessive amounts of rosemary, anise and cinnamon.

Small, small, small amounts, please.

Cilantro RULES...love that smell and taste.

[Smithy]

...

About the cilantro thing being physical/genetic (I've also heard allergy explanations): I wonder how common the alleged physical aversion to cilantro is in parts of the world like southeast Asia where it's an integral part of the indigenous cuisine. And why did we stop calling it by its English name and start calling it by its Spanish name?

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I find it a useful distinction to call the leaf 'cilantro' and the seed 'coriander'. Until recently I thought everyone made that distinction, but a radio food authority uses them interchangeably, and I'm beginning to think I made it all up. Anyone else?

I cannot abide cloves. I think it goes back to the holiday travesty, glazed ham with cloves. (WHY do people think pork needs sweetening?) It was decades before I decided there is such a thing as good ham, but I haven't forgiven cloves.

[fifi]

. . . . .

I think liking or disliking cilantro is a genetic thing, however I also beleive that one can develop a taste for it, IF you have it in the right context. 

Not in salsa, to get the best of it, you should combine it with a fatty substance.

A little piece of carnitas or even  just a bit of roast pork, cut thin and put a tiny bit of cilantro and some onion on it, roll up the piece of pork and taste.  I have introduced a lot of people to cilantro this way and usually they find that it tastes a lot different than it does on its own.  You have to use it sparingly, however. 

And never, never, never pair it with fish.  I can't eat it with fish and I love cilantro any other way.

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I agree with your approach. It is a salsa where it really gets to me. If it is a minor seasoning note in a curry, stew or something with fat in it I can deal with it or sometimes ignore it. There is this current flurry of grilled fish with some sort of salsa on top with lots of cilantro. I always wonder who thought that was a good idea.

I am guessing here but I think we call it cilantro in the US because that is what they call it in Mexico. Someone may have a better explanation.

[chefzadi]

Fresh Coriander or Cilantro seems to be one of those hate it or love it herbs. I HATE IT. It's a common herb in Algerian cookery. My mother used it quite a bit to finish stews and soups. She used smen too which is preserved butter (okay it's not an herb, but I can't stand the smell or taste). Cinnamon is another spice I don't like. Actually cinnamon in sweets is a general aversion that French people have.