# Cilantro: Soapy or Bliss? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662 "2009-10-13T15:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/41 "2009-10-13T20:50:16Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And how do you know what soap tastes like? You don’t know what soap tastes like? How often do you take a shower? I’m not saying that I’m consuming suds every time I wash, but I’ve gotten soap in my mouth - especially as a little kid. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/42 "2009-10-13T21:21:45Z")
I LOVE cilantro - I even remember the first time I tasted it as a child over 40 years ago. I was stunned by it, and still dig it. It makes all the difference in Mexican and Indian food. It’s that radish stuff they give you in little slices (I don’t remember what it is) in Japanese/sushi restaurants that I think tastes like dish detergent. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/43 "2009-10-13T21:43:35Z")
Awful stuff! I once planted some in my garden and had to pull it all out. We have a gazebo where I sit on sunny days and I could not even stand the smell of that plant growing 15 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/44 "2009-10-13T22:03:56Z")
Isn’t cilantro rice the main ingredient for burritos at the ultra-popular Chipotle chain? It can’t be that unpopular if they’ve been using it for the past 8 years. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/45 "2009-10-13T22:13:17Z")
It’s horrible for us genetic mutants. I have precious few foods that I dislike, but cilantro is right on top of the list. BLECH! ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/46 "2009-10-13T22:14:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Isn’t cilantro rice the main ingredient for burritos at the ultra-popular Chipotle chain? > It can’t be that unpopular if they’ve been using it for the past 8 years. Apparently, it’s only horrific to 25% of the population, all of which, presumably, do not eat a Chipotle. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/47 "2009-10-13T22:37:17Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I tasted some cilantro leaves my mom was cutting up. It didn’t taste like anything, really. Maybe a bit bitter. So there _are_ other people who don’t taste anything, either. It doesn’t have a real taste to me, just a tiny bit of heat. ::shrugs:: at least it doesn’t taste like soap. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/48 "2009-10-13T23:07:36Z")
The first few times I tried it it tasted soapy to me, but that has faded and how I like it. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/49 "2009-10-13T23:51:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And how do you know what soap tastes like? Most people use toothpaste. And bloody soap - even weirder. Are you in the habit of biting down hard on the kind of soap they use to wash horses?I bet you’ve never had Meyer’s Superior Cocktail Sauce, which employs dry hot Chinese mustard moistened to the proper consistency with Tabasco. It’ll elevate your flaps. > > Oh, and if you think liverwurst has a “strong” taste, I suspect your fungiform papillae need replacement. Anybody can get soap in their mouth by accident washing their face, or by not rinsing it totally off their hands and then putting a finger in their mouth/food that has subsequently come in contact with that soapy hand into their mouth. And yes liverwurst can have a strong flavor to it. Many people can be sensitive to the particular flavor that organ meats have. Bloody is a modifier used by brits and certain brit influenced people. ---
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/50 "2009-10-14T00:11:34Z")
I’m firmly in the can’t-live-without-it category, but at the same time, I can kinda-sorta see how it’s similar to soap. It has a certain freshness about it that is vaguely reminiscent of soap. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/51 "2009-10-14T01:08:59Z")
I posted here on the SD some years ago saying cilantro was a weed that springs up in the Devil’s footsteps. Blagh! Phooey! Disgusting! Poison! Now, I can’t get enough! Maybe because I’m cooking things that are only improved by cilantro. Tasted out of context, so to speak - still ick! But it’s divine in the appropriate dish. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/52 "2009-10-14T01:20:41Z")
Love, love, love it! When I was first in SE Asia, (1983), I kept asking my travel mate, (who was Asian), what this was. It was in almost everything, as it is often used as garnish in soups and on street food. She would shrug and say, “Uh, um, Chinese Parsley!” I knew that wasn’t going to get me far in the local grocery back home. When I returned I had an even harder time determining it’s name as half the people called it cilantro and half corriander. Corriander, to me, meant a ground and dried spice. Yes, I was mightily confused for a time there. But then I got a handle on it and the fog cleared! 'Cause I love me some cilantro! (You poor unfortunates have my deepest sympathies…) ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/53 "2009-10-14T03:16:22Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > ^ Cilantro is the leaves of the coriander plant. > > And it doesn’t taste like soap. It tastes like love. I can’t remember which poster said it, but I agree with him when he said that cilantro “tastes like ihate\*.” “Soapy” is much too mild. It tastes more like burnt industrial toxic waste. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/54 "2009-10-14T03:29:42Z")
It tastes like it’s been drenched in some loathsome oil-based heavy-duty pesticide. Something Dow Chemical invented in, like, 1971, but never let out of the laboratory because it caused rats to have babies with nine heads. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/55 "2009-10-14T03:35:20Z")
I say bliss. Broccoli on the other hand . . . that’s soap to me. Stringy soap. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/56 "2009-10-14T06:54:46Z")
> [@sundog66](#): > > I’m firmly in the can’t-live-without-it category, but at the same time, I can kinda-sorta see how it’s similar to soap. It has a certain freshness about it that is vaguely reminiscent of soap. Irish Spring? ---
**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:** [October 14, 2009, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/57 "2009-10-14T10:47:05Z")
I can sorta taste the soap, if I try a ton of it by itself. But it makes the salsa at my favorite Mexican place taste divine. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/58 "2009-10-14T11:53:14Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I say bliss. > > Broccoli on the other hand . . . that’s soap to me. Stringy soap. Fine, you can have my share of cilantro and I get all your broccoli. Deal? ---
**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:** [October 14, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/59 "2009-10-14T12:27:06Z")
Gah! Sorry for the no “I can take it or leave it option”… I knew I was missing something. I guess just vote for the 4th option if you’re in that category. I’m really just more interested in the percentage of “soap tasters”… I know this sensation can vary from person to person, as I’ve heard it described as dirty dishwater to rotten garbage before… so there’s definitely something complex going on. That article was very interesting, thanks **MeanOldLady.** And, tsk, tsk, tsk, **Jackmannii** … you should know better than to assume people are just being woosies on “strong” flavors. I actually quite enjoy very strong flavors from heavy garlic to wasabi, and enjoy quite a variety of herbs and spices. You remind me of one of my friends growing up, whose house I couldn’t go over because he had a cat. I’m terribly allergic to cats (asthma). He was convinced I was making it up, because I didn’t like to come over, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. To this day, he has his own cat and is skeptical of anyone who has allergies. I don’t really hang out with him anymore. I first discovered my detest for cilantro while dining at some small mexican restaurant and hastily shoving their salsa in my mouth. I was maybe 18 or 19 years old. I was on a date, and I thought the staff hadn’t rinsed off the bowl they put the salsa in, after cleaning it with some strong-ass detergent. My date didn’t know what the eff I was talking about. I almost complained to the waiter, until I methodically tasted each visible ingredient. When I got to that greenish leafy thing… BINGO. Soap. I was blown away that my date couldn’t taste it. She was looking at me like I was an alien. It wasn’t until I started posting here, that I first learned it might be a genetic thing, like being colorblind or something, but with taste/smell. Fascinating. Can’t someone breed a strain of cilantro without this _offending_ chemical?! ---
**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:** [October 14, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662/60 "2009-10-14T12:30:09Z")
Mmmm… broccoli… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cilantro-soapy-or-bliss/513662.md?page=4)