# Cilantro and soap **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961 "2010-03-02T04:29:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/1 "2010-03-02T04:29:48Z")
IME, people who don’t like cilantro say it tastes like soap. My sister says this, and she doesn’t like it. Me, I like it. Is there a genetic reason for this? Like, my sister can roll her tongue, and I can’t. I’ve heard that that’s a genetic trait. So cilantro = soap, genetic? And why soap? I haven’t heard anyone who dislikes it describe it as anything else. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/2 "2010-03-02T04:31:28Z")
Taste like silantro to me. Now, about your sister… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/3 "2010-03-02T04:40:29Z")
The “cilantro tastes like soap” trait is _believed_ to be genetic but this has not been conclusively _proven_. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/4 "2010-03-02T04:48:36Z")
Some evidence: > [@](#): > > According to Dr. Charles Wysocki, another Monell [Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia] scientist, the problem extends far beyond me and my group of friends. > > Wysocki took some chopped up cilantro to Twinsburg, Ohio, for the annual twins festival, and had identical and fraternal twins sniff cilantro and rate pleasantness. People tended to fall mainly into two groups — the lovers and the haters — and identical twins almost always rated cilantro the same way as their sibling counterpart. > > This seems to suggest, “that there’s a strong genetic component,” he explains. “People like you may be smelling things that other people aren’t.” Color me gobsmacked that Twinsburg, Ohio, actually has an “annual twins festival”, [but it does](http://www.twinsdays.org/). Man, I bet genetics researchers flock to Twinsburg on the first weekend in August like migrating seabirds (not that migrating seabirds would actually wind up in Twinsburg, but you know what I mean). ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/5 "2010-03-02T05:12:01Z")
There was a previous thread on this and I would swear someone had a cite that the genetic marker had been identified. My search-fu is failing me now. I’m pooped so I’ll be back tomorrow to dig deeper. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/6 "2010-03-02T05:17:36Z")
I found, not one, but two! [I’ve given up on cilantro.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=492730) [Cilantro: soapy or bliss?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=535790) To me, it doesn’t taste “like soap” (maybe I’m just used to different soaps), but it tastes extremely strong and it’s quite unpleasant. I can have the seeds, but the fresh leaves seem to make me dizzy (based on the experience of several months in Costa Rica, I say “seems” because correlation does not equal causation and I haven’t seen any medical studies backing up cilantro’s reputation of “being good for the heart,” i.e., lowering blood pressure). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/7 "2010-03-02T05:18:54Z")
There are actually three categories, not two. Some folks don’t taste the soapy flavor at all. Some folks taste it so strongly that any amount of cilantro ruins a dish. And some folks, like myself, can taste the soapy flavor, but can get used to it in moderation. I’ve heard speculation that this third category might be heterozygous in that gene, but surveys of my very large extended family do not seem consistent with this. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/8 "2010-03-02T05:23:09Z")
Some one did it. [Cilantro soap.](http://www.1000markets.com/categories/health-and-beauty+bath-and-soaps/products/107091)😃 ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/9 "2010-03-02T05:28:08Z")
Sidenote - I like cilantro. Fresh chopped cilantro in a nice pozole - delicious. I made the mistake today of ordering the BK “cilantro and lime” fish sandwich. Holy God, awful. The “pseudo-cilantro” flavor (there are no actual plants on this processed fish patty (other than some “distressed” lettuce leaves) is so overwhelming as to be disgusting. Maybe now I understand the “cilantro” = “soap” base. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/10 "2010-03-02T05:31:44Z")
I taste the soap. none of my family does. to me almost any mount of cilantro tastes like sucking on a bar of ivory, just like i was a foul-mouthed kid again… ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/11 "2010-03-02T05:36:37Z")
I love cilantro, especially in home made salsas. You folks who taste soap got ripped off when the genes were given out! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/12 "2010-03-02T05:45:56Z")
Perhaps it would help if people who say it tastes like soap would be more specific on what that means. When I think of soap in my mouth, I just think of a rather bitter taste that is hard to get out of your mouth. (It gets all bubbly.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/13 "2010-03-02T05:52:51Z")
I get a bitter undertaste, and if there’s any kind of pepper in the dish, pepper+cilantro “burns” a lot more than the pepper alone. A few times it did taste as if the plate hadn’t been rinsed properly, but it was very few times and I’m not sure if it really is due to the cilantro or the plate had really not being rinsed well. And I have very little problem with the seeds, but the leaves… uuuugh, the leaves! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/14 "2010-03-02T05:58:51Z")
I’m a cilantro/colliander soap-taster… **BigT,** if you’ve ever taken a shower, and some soap has gotten in your mouth (or for whatever reason you’ve gotten a substantial amount of soap or detergent in your mouth), it tastes just like that: Bitter, chemically, acrid, and cringeworthy… soapy! KHACK! You immediately want to spit it out. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/15 "2010-03-02T08:27:36Z")
I think it tastes less like Ivory soaps and more like dish soap. Drop a little Palmolive into some water, stir it a bit, and take a shot. Be sure to have a some clean water nearby so you can wash that taste out of your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/16 "2010-03-02T08:49:29Z")
I fall in-between - to me it tastes mildly of soap. Not too bitter, just … soapy. It’s all right in small doses and mixed in with other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/17 "2010-03-02T11:46:13Z")
> [@pope\_hentai](#): > > I taste the soap. none of my family does. to me almost any mount of cilantro tastes like sucking on a bar of ivory, just like i was a foul-mouthed kid again… Congratulations on finally learning that you were adopted! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/18 "2010-03-02T12:01:48Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Congratulations on finally learning that you were adopted! postman… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/19 "2010-03-02T16:14:26Z")
To me, there’s a citrus-like component in the soap taste. So sorta like lemon Joy dishwashing soap. (and yes, I tasted my share of soap as a kid) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961/20 "2010-03-02T16:21:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Perhaps it would help if people who say it tastes like soap would be more specific on what that means. When I think of soap in my mouth, I just think of a rather bitter taste that is hard to get out of your mouth. (It gets all bubbly.) You want specific? Take a bar of Irish Spring soap. Bite into it and chew. Got it now? (I’d also suggest a chaser of Pine Sol for full replication of effect but Pine Sol is quite toxic and I don’t wish anyone harmed by this comparison.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-and-soap/530961.md?page=2)