Man, that’s a hard question. Before I read anyone else’s answers, my thought was “it tastes GREEN.” I see that is a popular opinion.
Trying to be more descriptive … it is a little like mindfully eating a piece of romaine lettuce while right next to some clean leather. Imagine inhaling the sent from a brand new purse while chewing.
My husband and I are both big fans of cilantro. Before I knew that it tasted like soap to some people, we were onceserved a bowl of salsa in a restaurant. On tasting, we both had the reaction, “ugh, they left soap on the dish!”. In retrospect, there must have been something about that particular salsa that made us both taste the soapiness, just that one time.
To me, it has an aftertaste similar to that of a hoppy beer, such as an IPA. The initial taste is not there for me, especially if paired with stronger elements such as lime, chilli, or other strong flavors.
I only like a sprinkle in soft, corn tortilla tacos - such as barbacoa or adobado, with chopped or sliced radishes.
I do have the soapy cilantro gene–Promethease says so–and I guess I understand the “soapy” component of cilantro’s flavor, though I never thought of it that way. I would say it’s a pungent herb.
Soapy tasters, does it smell like soap? To me it tastes just like it smells. In fact, after I wash a bunch I’ll walk around the house shaking it. Doesn’t work well in homemade scents or potpourri, though.
Not particularly, no. But maybe my soapy-taste sensitivity is not what it once was.
…
I wonder if not all cilantro is created equal? Is the flavor of ilantro fairly fragile? Unusually succeptible to aging, storage conditions, heat, freezer burn, etc.
I think it tastes soapy, grassy, and “green” and I love it. When I first encountered it in my teens at Mexican places, I hated it. I would specifically ask for no cilantro when I ordered, and a few little snippets could make an entire burrito awful to me.
I think my brain “switched” gears when I started having it in Asian dishes like pho and when I tried eating some on its own instead of mixed into a dish. It’s now one of my most-used herbs.
I find that drenching it in lime helps a lot. My version of pico de gallo is a lot of cilantro, some onion and grape tomatoes, and the squeezings of at least 1.5 limes.
Me too. The first time I tried it in fresh salsa, I was legitimately and truly pissed off. Someone might as well put a ground up stink bug (which also has that overly soapy quality) in it. I didn’t try it again much for a few years because I remembered that it was disgusting but then I was presented with it in small quantities of it in foods that would be impolite to refuse. I got used to it over time and even developed a liking for it in some things. I can still definitely taste the soapiness but it is pretty good once you come to expect it and notice the balance with its other herbal taste notes.
I think the supposed dichotomy between the genetically prescribed soap tasters versus others for cilantro is complete bullshit. It is just a unique taste that can take many tries to appreciate. Beer, coffee and even dark chocolate among many other unique tasting things that provoke the instinctual danger response are in the same category until you learn that they aren’t dangerous and can be good when prepared well.
I started out thinking cilantro tastes like soap, but I kept eating it, and the flavor grew on me. Now I would describe it as “Soapily delicious! A wonderfully clean flavor!”
Lesson: don’t give up on a food just because you don’t like it the first time you try it. You can develop a taste for it. That has happened for me with many foods.
Bingo!
I, too, didn’t like cilantro in Mexican food until after I had it in southeast Asian food. Something clicked for me at that point. It just tasted so perfect and necessary in pho and hotpot. And I now love it in Mexican food as well.
I no longer really perceive the soapiness unless I think about it, and the soapiness is less of a flavor for me than a sensation - the same peculiar sensation you get when you get soap in your mouth. I get that on a much larger scale with Szechuan peppercorns.
It sounds like a whole lot of people had a similar experience to mine - I hated it at first, and it tasted soapy. The taste grew on me, and now I love it.
I think the whole genetic thing is horse shit. There are two kinds of people: those who have learned to love cilantro, and those who haven’t yet learned to love cilantro.
Why? AFAIK, the genetic thing is just an ability to make out the soapiness at all, not an “I hate cilantro” gene I’ve noted that a lot of people in this thread notice the soapiness at some level or another, but still like cilantro.
Yeah, if you read the links I posted above, it seems pretty clear to me that there is a genetic marker for tasting this soapiness, but having this marker is not the predominant driver of cilantro aversion.
I said that because it seems that everyone tastes the “soapy” taste, and some don’t think about it, most people get used to it and love it, while others avoid cilantro and never develop a taste for it. I hate the taste of blue cheese, I think it tastes like kerosene, but I certainly don’t think I have a “blue cheese = kerosene” gene. I just don’t like it.
There are a few posters in this thread who have said they don’t taste any soapiness. That, combined with the studies I’ve read on this, suggests to me that there are those who don’t taste it at all but, as I said above, the ability to perceive the soapiness does not necessarily mean one has an aversion to it.
I love Cilantro. I don’t get the soapiness al all. To me it tastes like pee smells, but in a good, fresh way. Someone upthread mentioned armpits and stink bugs, and I get that too. I love the taste and it always surprises me because I cant seem to remember how it tasted the last time I had it.
I’ve noted that a lot of people in this thread notice the soapiness at some level or another, but still like cilantro.