I know, to a minority of people, cilantro has a soapy taste (or after-taste). But how does it taste to everyone else? For me, it has absolutely no taste whatsoever, no matter how much I use.
Hmm. Taste is, of course, subjective, YMobviouslydoesV, but to me, it tastes “fresh” - very green and herbaceous, with a bitter edge like dandelion greens. And yeah, maybe a hint of soap. I remember as a kid calling it “dirt weed” because it tasted like dirt.
Have you tried culantro? It has a similar, but stronger, flavour. I think it has different flavonoid compounds, so it’s possible that you’ll get more from it.
This!
Slightly citrusy. Earthy too. “green and herbaceous” is right. No soap at all.
And if you’re getting no flavour from it at all, then you’re likely not using fresh, it loses its flavour quite quickly. That’s why I find it’s best snipped right out the pot.
Interesting. To me the flavor is so overwhelming that I can’t stand the stuff.
A lot of variation in the bitterness. This may not help, but to me it tastes like parsley, except it’s ‘darker’ and has a ‘broader’ bitterness. I don’t know how to translate that into something useful though.
This. It doesn’t taste like soap, but more like a really strong weed. Just a touch can be overpowering to me. Doesn’t take hardly any to ruin a dish, and I tend to like other herbs.
Interesting. For me, it’d be exactly the other way around. I find cilantro to be “brighter,” less bitter, and more delicate than parsley, “greener,” perhaps a touch of citrus, and I definitely get the soapiness flavor, but it’s a good soapiness (that I guess I must have developed a taste for. First few times I had cilantro, I thought someone hadn’t properly rinsed the salsa bowls.) I find it a pretty strong flavor and scent.
Previous thread: If you like cilantro, how would you describe it?
The best way to describe it is “delicious.”
Fresh and heavenly
I agree. Good soapiness. Parsley is definitely a lot more sharp than coriander leaf but I can see how one is reminiscent of the other.
I think what you call ‘greener’ may be what I call ‘darker’. The bitterness varies a lot in what I’ve had, for some dishes I prefer it more bitter. I make a Polynesian style dish with ham and pineapple where the bitterness complements the sweetness of the pineapple. I’m not sure whether I’m picking up the soapiness or not though, it just tastes like cilantro to me.
Regardless, it is definitely parsley-esque. In the other thread, I described it as “crisp”. It freshens and brightens up a dish. It’s got zazz… zing, zork, kapowza. Call it what you want.
Wow I can’t believe no one here yet has said it has a definite black licorice taste, as well as aroma - even more so than fennel.
It doesn’t taste or smell at all like black licorice to me.
Soap. Straight-up green Polmolive soap. Like when you accidentally hit the bottle on the counter too hard, and a bit of soap shoots out the nozzle, and hits you square in the teeth. It overpowers EVERYTHING in the rest of the recipe for me.
Cilantro is the soapy devil’s herb.
Cilantro tastes like iron to me, like biting down on a piece of metal. It ruins anything it’s in.
I don’t know if I get licorice from it, but it’s definitely more towards this end of the scale than parsley, but with a vague citrussy taste rather than licorice. It doesn’t really remind me of parsley much at all.
I love black licorice. Cilantro makes me not eat the food it is in. It doesn’t taste like soap, it tastes like yuck. YMMV
I like fennel, does not in anyway taste like cilantro.