Why does cilantro taste like soap?

[Acsenray]

@antechinus

Anyways, I wiki’ed it and it turns out coriander and cilantro ane one and the same.

In the United States, it’s common to use the term “coriander” for the seeds and “cilantro” for the leaves, but there is some degree of interchangeability.

[brianjedi]

@Quiddity Glomfuster

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

I get that people dislike cilantro but what’s with all the complaints about it being served? There are lots of foods hated by lots of people - in another thread an amazing number of people cited bananas and/or tomatoes as foods they loathe with a passion. Yet these vile things (according to some) are served constantly in restaurants and are in many, many foods.

I can’t eat iceberg lettuce. Because of that, there are a LOT of things I can’t eat unless I ask for them to be specially made. I’m not about to rant about the horrid big bad world that insists on serving iceberg any more than I’d expect the banana-tomato haters to start a petition to eliminate them from restaurants.

Not that anyone’s suggested that. Yet.

The reason I started this, way back last weekend, was that Chipotle’s rice comes with cilantro and lime juice already on it. There is no plain rice, and I didn’t discover I didn’t like cilantro until after I started eating.

I’ll probably just make do with my burritos tasting slightly funky, because Chipotle is a damn sight better than Qdoba.

[ywine]

I was about twenty when I first tasted it and I hated, hated, hated it… until I was about thirty then I loved, loved, loved it.

[1010011010]

Having had cilantro growing in an old ion exchange resin can in the backyard for several months (there’s still some in there right now… I should go casually mention that it’s almost winter), it has tasted like fresh air and like soap-- so I don’t think it’s anything like phenylthiocarbamide.

I wasn’t exactly keeping notes, but the soap taste seemed to be most prevalent when the plants were underwatered and especially while they were having hot cilantro sex (i.e., while flowering). The difference between “it tastes like fresh air” and “it tastes like soap” is probably a question of when it was picked or how it was processed.

[thelurkinghorror]

I think it tastes like BRAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!

[WoodenTaco]

@1010011010

Having had cilantro growing in an old ion exchange resin can in the backyard for several months (there’s still some in there right now… I should go casually mention that it’s almost winter), it has tasted like fresh air and like soap-- so I don’t think it’s anything like phenylthiocarbamide.

I wasn’t exactly keeping notes, but the soap taste seemed to be most prevalent when the plants were underwatered and especially while they were having hot cilantro sex (i.e., while flowering). The difference between “it tastes like fresh air” and “it tastes like soap” is probably a question of when it was picked or how it was processed.

It’s been very conclusively proven to be a gene, your anecdotal experience aside. Cilnatro contains phenylthiocarbamide, and PTC is an A+ example of different sensory perception based on genetics.

[Cluricaun]

@thelurkinghorror

I think it tastes like BRAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!

Yes, but fresh air brains or soapy brains?

[calm_kiwi]

@CBEscapee

But it is more a question of sanitation here than taste. The street vendors who use it, don’t wash it because it becomes soggy so I avoid adding it as a condiment to my fare. At home we use it mainly in the above mentioned dishes and of course disinfect it prior to use.

You disinfect a herb??? How do you do that? And after that you wonder why it tastes like soap!

I’m odd I think, I love coriander (cilantro) but fresh basil tastes soapy to me. I would NEVER disinfect it though.

[samclem]

No soap Zombie. Closed.

samclem GQ moderator