Cilantro: Soapy or Delicious?

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Cilantro is just the Spanish word for coriander, so I don't think most of euorope uses the word cilantro to refer to coriander leaves

That is my understanding too. I think coriander is from a French (maybe Greek) root word.

We refer to the plant, leaves and all, as coriander.

[Katie]

I was just talking about the difference in Amercan English (which is why Ducky has two separate herb book listings). Same plant, but two different words in American English to describe two different parts of the same plant, which are used in different ways.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by ProactiveMan

That is my understanding too. I think coriander is from a French (maybe Greek) root word.

We refer to the plant, leaves and all, as coriander.

Yeah iirc it's from a Old French word that originated from a Latin/Greek word.

I've never heard of the word cilantro until a couple of weeks ago when it was mentioned on Major Spoiler's Top 5 Podcast

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Cilantro is just the Spanish word for coriander, so I don't think most of euorope uses the word cilantro to refer to coriander leaves

I had to google the word Cilantro since I had no idea wtf it was. According to wikipedia, it's what we call "Coentros" in my country. They don't taste like soap. Why would they? O_o

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I had to google the word Cilantro since I had no idea wtf it was. According to wikipedia, it's what we call "Coentros" in my country. They don't taste like soap. Why would they? O_o

It's something to do with the taste receptors in people's tongues. Apparently it differs between ethnic groups, but a small to moderate percentage of the population are sensitive to a substance in the plant, which they describe as tasting like soap, or like it's rotten. Another theory is that coriander really tastes like soap, but most people don't have the olfactory senses to taste it.