Coriander/Cilantro: do you love it or hate it?

Do you like the taste of coriander/cilantro leaves?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 87.5%
  • No

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Total voters
    8

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
Staff member
Joined
19 Apr 2015
Local time
11:48 PM
Messages
46,855
Location
Maidstone, Kent, UK
It seems that the reason some people don't like the taste of coriander leaves is genetic. To people who carry certain genes it tastes 'soapy'. To the rest of us it has a pleasant citrus flavour. Its one of the best selling herbs in the UK. One study found that dislike among South Asians, Hispanic and Middle Eastern participants ranged between three and seven percent, whereas among those of East Asian, Caucasian or African descent the range was between 14 to 21 percent.

Are you a lover or hater of coriander? If you hate it, how does it taste to you?

Sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...bitterness-explain-people-love-hate-herb.html
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/genetic-aversion-to-coriander
 
Last edited:
I love it and only know of one person out of my friends who doesn't (but that doesn't stop him eating one of my curries which usually contains plenty!).
 
I love it and only know of one person out of my friends who doesn't (but that doesn't stop him eating one of my curries which usually contains plenty!).

That's interesting. My son (who has doesn't like it) will eat it if cooked into a curry. But not if sprinkled on top. I think that cooking it in the sauce must change the profile of the compounds which trigger the soapy taste.
 
That's interesting. My son (who has doesn't like it) will eat it if cooked into a curry. But not if sprinkled on top. I think that cooking it in the sauce must change the profile of the compounds which trigger the soapy taste.
Maybe. I'd never thought of that. I often use dried coriander - I wonder if that makes a difference too? It certainly doesn't seem to taste the same to me.
 
There are very few Thai dishes (at least here in the North East) that don't have coriander leaf either in or on them. Coriander seeds appear to be less popular.
 
There are very few Thai dishes (at least here in the North East) that don't have coriander leaf either in or on them. Coriander seeds appear to be less popular.
Its a good job you are not amongst the Caucasian 14% who don't like it then. :D

Tonight I made a bean salad and included chopped flat leaf parsley. My son said 'was that coriander?'. I said 'of course not, I know you hate coriander. It was parsley'. He said 'Parsley has the same problem for me'. Now, I would not think they taste at all the same...
 
I do not like fresh cilantro, but I'm fine with coriander, the seed. Fresh does taste soapy to me, as if I splashed up some very soapy dishwater into my mouth while washing a pot or pan. In fact, when shopping the row with herbs I can smell cilantro from three or four feet away. After that, my nostrils close automatically to protect me from the evil smell. :D

I don't have the same reaction to Italian, or flat, parsley. In fact, I often substitute parsley for cilantro if a recipe calls for it.
 
2/4 of us eat it here, but originally none of us did.

I think of it like aversion/exposure therapy... I had read that it can be done... I have a child on the autism spectrum and read a lot about educating the palate over time by offering disliked foods over and over. For himself my partner can't see the point when there is so much food he does like & my son still struggles with a lot of flavours and textures so I don't push.

To my thinking I wasn't getting the authentic experience

There were a lot of Thai restaurants in Sydney in the 90's as that was the trendy cuisine. I had a fair few dishes but don't remember coriander leaves being a dominant flavour or sprinkled all over my food with abandon.

The first time I used them in cooking was a green curry paste and that had it in there roots and all. I had to hunt for coriander at an Asian market. There was also sweet basil in it but I think now maybe that wasn't quite right. The coriander smelled repulsive but I trusted the recipe source so I went ahead. The curry was gorgeous.

I can remember the first time I had it on my dish as a garnish... overpowering and unpleasant, I was glad I didn't stir it in and could eat around it, and I actively picked it from salads for years. Then about 8-10 years ago I started eating banh mi thit every chance I could get - it's about 2 hours by car to get to places with a decent sized Vietnamese population.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOOFeQ3a2kM



And loving them. I could really taste the coriander though and if it was generously added I picked some off.


Over time I stopped doing this and so did my daughter. Now we both love coriander and if it's called for in Asian food or Mexican we put a lidded container on the table - lidded because my partner says it smells like mouldy dirt and he can smell it from the other end of the table.
 
Last edited:
I loooove fresh cilantro leaves and stems, but coriander seed is just "meh".

There are certain dishes that just aren't the same without them, most notably Mexican and Southeast Asian cuisines.


I've noticed that Americans more often use that difference in terms, where coriander only refers to the seed.
 
I guess just in comparison to cilantro I'm fairly indifferent about the seeds.

But the seed, while having pretty much the same taste, doesn't have that fresh herbiness to it.
 
I guess just in comparison to cilantro I'm fairly indifferent about the seeds.

But the seed, while having pretty much the same taste, doesn't have that fresh herbiness to it.
I don't have the same experience, though. Fresh does taste like soap to me, and Fritzz's "moldy dirt" nails what I smell! When I grind the seeds, coriander smells lemony and fruity, not at all the same as how I find cilantro.
 
Back
Top Bottom