Are you a lover or a hater?

Personally, I can't get enough of this herb in certain dishes and just smelling it wakes me up and puts a smile on my face. I can't say I'd say the same about eating soap... smelling soap? Maybe, but not eating it.

Comments

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

I see you avoided the bug issue. Did you know spiders like bugs?
~

[jk]

Cilantro can smell so strongly of soap to me that I have been in outdoor settings where a sauce containing it is about 5 feet from me and I've been unable to tolerate being even that distant and have had to move further away. It doesn't just smell like an innocuous, ordinary soap, it smells like soap concentrated 10,000 times and some other kind of living alien soap liberally mixed in for good measure. It's a clinging, cloudy, oily, suffocating smell--nothing tangy or citrus about it. I think the worst instance was cilantro grown in a friend's back yard and put in a salsa.

"This is great! Have some! This is really great!"

I was standing all the way across the patio trying not to gag.

My husband has a mild aversion at times. But often he likes dishes with it. He tried for years to get me to eat at a Cuban place he really likes, not understanding how strongly the cilantro there smells to me. He'd bring home leftover soup from lunch or some other dish and tell me it was really good and didn't taste of cilantro, would have me taste it so I would see that it didn't taste of cilantro, and to me it would be so vile I could only tolerate two bites. I tried cilantro a number of times over the years, hoping to become accustomed to it because everyone I knew loved it so damn much and nearly everything they served had cilantro. It didn't happen.

The only time I've had cilantro in a dish where I could eat it was at a great Egyptian restaurant a couple years ago. I mean like a fantastic, incredible restaurant with the best food I've ever eaten in my life. It was like heaven. I was told before hand there was cilantro in one of the dishes--and the dish was wonderful, I neither tasted it or smelled the herb.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

I can take it or leave it.

[Jennifer]

thundra- I can't hear you.

jk- Wow. I know a couple of other people who have such adverse reactions, but I have to say, it always amazes me. I love the stuff in the right thing and even love when I can smell it in my yard.

Of course, I do have a few things that gag me... things other people love that I just can't get past. I will never eat a tomato with tuna. Can't do it. I like them separately, but my palate HATES them together. They bond in some form that literally gags me.

One other thing? Blue Cheese.

ZRM- what if it were on brains?

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

soapy branes?

[Mendacious D]

I'm a huge fan, especially in curries. My dad hates it. He will no doubt email this article to me before the day is out.

[Kathleen]

the herb helps me relax. I have a prescription.

[Another Kiwi]

I think this just underlines the duplicity of vegetables and confirms the fact that we shouldn't eat them. Unless their evilness is neutralized by Cheese sauce.

[Von]

HATEHATEHATEHATE HATE cilantro.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

Just coming over here to see if I can stir up some trouble instead of doing the work I should be doing.

[herr doktor bimler]

Cilantro Beer.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

Yeah, Herr smut is much better than I am at stirring up trouble.

[Jennifer]

NOT FAIR! You can't say that the beer is from the Chicago Brewing Co and then say that the Chicago Brewing Co is in Las Vegas!!

Herr Smut is stirring up trouble.

ZRM- I waste plenty of time here... no reason others shouldn't as well.

[Jennifer]

I am willing to try this. The addition of simple syrup scares me a tad... while it might work in a mint julep or a mojito... I'm not sure about this, but I'll still give it a try.

[Jennifer]

Medicinal Cilantro, Kathleen?? I bet it goes well with mushrooms.

AK- in the pocket of the big cheese. I should have guessed...

Von- Roger... no cilantro if Von is in the house... just beer.

[herr doktor bimler]

I am still trying to talk the doctor into writing me a prescription for black pudding. Apparently my own qualification does not count.

[Jennifer]

Gack.

[Rare air jordan]

It is my pleasure to read your article! What a vivid photo it is! Thank you for sharing! good luck!

[Mandos]

I'm a huge cilantro fan and use it regularly in cooking all kinds of things.

[Substance McGravitas]

Cilantro's twitter feed is completely boring.

[almostinfamous]

indian cooking would be nowhere without Coriander/Cilantro

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

the iPad is made with Cilantro.

[Von]

mmmm beeerrrrr......

[Brando]

Cilantro's twitter feed is completely boring.

It needs some spicing up.

[Dan Leo]

I was wondering when someone would bring up the beer thing. Coriander is always used in Belgian "white" beers like Hoegaarden, and the American versions of it like Bue Moon. Allagash makes a much better American white. Coriander's also in other good Belgians like LaChouffe. Oh, no, oh God no, I'm using the dreaded "expaining voice", so I'll cease and desist right now! (Anyway, I prefer Duvel...)

[Jennifer]

Dan- your explaining voice is always welcome. I like Belgian beers, but had no idea! I have not had Duvel, but it is now on the list.

[Snag]

I love cilantro. The Lovely Bride hates it. Ergo, when I use it in a dish, I get to eat the whole thing. Not that I'd do that, of course.

[Pinko Punko]

I am exactly like the person in the article that converted. I found that its taste in pico de gallo was very soapy while growing up, but getting used to it in Vietnamese dishes, and also this sauce that was called Thai chimmichurri (clilantro instead of parsely, plus some fish sauce, lime and garlic, converted me. I think the easiest way to get to like it when you don't normally like it is in Tom Yum soup or something like that. Now I would eat a whole bunch of it. Parsley is the same way. It kind of tastes like ass but actually tastes "good'

[Jennifer]

I didn't like parsley as a kid, but as an adult, I put handfuls into my smoothies...

[Kathleen]

I saw someone do that at a Whole Foods smoothie demonstration

[Jennifer]

It's addictive.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

I put oregano into brownies.

Only it's not really oregano....

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

I think the easiest way to get to like it when you don't normally like it is in Tom Yum soup or something like that.

I lurve Tom Yum Goong. Especially with shrimp.

[Jennifer]

thundra- I've had that and concur... as a matter of fact... I want some now.

ZRM- why am I not surprised.

And, I'm probably the only person in the world who is stressed, not relaxed, by oregano brownies...

[Mandos]

It's not Tom Yum Goong unless it has shrimp. If it doesn't have shrimp, it's just Tom Yum.

I'm a proponent of Tom Kha Goong, myself, though, or Tom Kha Gai (chicken). There's something about coconut milk curries...