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Whether you love or loathe cilantro, guacamole wouldn't be the same without it.
Cilantro: delightful element of delicious tacos and pico de gallo -- or horrid herb of death that smacks of soap? Like Facebook's Timeline and every episode of "Glee" ever, there's an undeniable "love it or hate it" quality about cilantro.
Actually, the haters are backed by some respected culinary tastemakers: Ina Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa) and Top Chef Fabio Viviani are the latest celebrity chefs to side with cilantrophobes, as they recently told our TODAY.com team. And Julia Child confessed to Larry King in a 2002 interview that she if she ever sees the herb in something she'd ordered, she would pick it out and "throw it on the floor." Harsh.
On Team Cilantro: behavioral neuroscientist Charles J. Wysocki, of the Morell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Wysocki has been attempting to pinpoint the polarizing nature of coriander leaves -- better known, of course, as cilantro. Wysocki has studied preferences for cilantro in twins, both fraternal and identical. In identical twins, if one twin hates the smell of cilantro, the other is more likely to hate it; the flip side is true, too -- if an identical twin loves the smell, the other will likely love it, too.
"That does not hold for fraternal twins," explains Wysocki, adding that these findings "suggest very strongly that whatever it is that people underlies the preference is genetically determined."
Cilantro: Love it or loathe it?
But what is it about cilantro that some people find so intensely offensive? To begin to find out, Wysocki has used gas chromoatography, a contraption that uses heat to separates a complex mixture of molecules -- like cilantro -- piece by piece, allowing researchers to identify each individual compound, by using both the instrument and their own noses. The GC, as it's called, warms the cilantro, and as it heats up, that "soapy" smell is released. About 10 minutes later, the pleasantly herbaceous cilantro smell is emitted -- but the typical cilantro hater still can't smell it.
"What we think might be happening is the person who hates cilantro is, in fact, detecting the soapy odor. But what they seem to be missing is the nice, aromatic, green component," says Wysocki, who thinks the smell of cilantro is quite pleasant. "It’s possible that they have a mutated or even an absent receptor gene for the receptor protein that would interact with the very pleasant smelling compound."
Hear that, cilantro haters? You're mutants, says a scientist. (We kid, we kid.)
As the theory goes -- and Wysocki is quick to remind that this is still speculative -- cilantrophobes may not be able to pick up the scent of a compound called dodecenal, which gives the cilantro that lovely fresh scent we cilantrophiles know so well. It's even possible, Wysocki allows, that those soap-smellers may have something called specific anosmia, which is the lack of perception of an odor for a specific compound, when the smell is otherwise intact.
Readers, what about you? Whether you love cilantro or can't stand it, make your case in the comments. If you hate it -- is it because of the soapy smell/taste, or something else?
Related:
- Bites: Cilantro -- love it or loathe it?
- Phantom smells may be a sign of trouble
- Sniff test: Living without a sense of smell
Follow cilantro-lover and msnbc.com health editor Melissa Dahl on Twitter: @melissadahl.
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
I love Cilantro. But I have a couple of friends that hate it. But only when it's fresh. When it's cooked the flavor of cilantro does change quite a bit. They won't put fresh cilantro in tacos but the moment I add it in a soup and cook it, it wilts and they love it. They describe the flavor of fresh cilantro as tasting more like mud. Which makes me wonder if they've ever tried eating mud.
Fresh or cooked, I find it tastes like soap. The only time I do not notice it is in jarred salsa, when it has been cooked or processed to death. (Since it seems to lose all its flavor after the processing, it makes me wonder why they put it in at all!) I avoid fresh salsa in restaurants or even the freshly-made stuff in the grocery store, unless I can verify it is cilantro-free.
like cliantro or not, I am so sick of MSNBC trying to dumb-down scientific terms and processes, with the end result of totally screwing everything up. Gas chromatography is not a machine, it is the process of separating molecules in gas. The INSTRUMENT (not machine, this is analytical precision not farm equipment) is somtimes referred to as a GC for short, but actually consists of an oven, column, autosampler/injector and detector.
Tip to MSNBC journalists - if you don't know enough to explain it correctly, just leave it out. You insult those of us who actually studied for chem finals.
Hey there, thanks, we can make those changes.
I just love cilantro, I don't smell the "soapy" smell others talk about... to me it's just a very pleasant and mouth watering aroma!
I Love cilantro, to me it taste like the essence of fresh. My dad hates it equally as much. I will be sure to tell him at Christmas that his dislike of Cilantro is due to a genetic defect...
I don't like cilantro. It wouldn't surprise me if my sense of taste and smell were mutated. Things taste exactly how they smell for me. I totally avoid parmesean cheese, oysters and anything else with a horrible smell.
I love it and my wife hates it. I have my own theory, although unscientific, why cilantro is hated by some. Have you ever bought a beautiful, fresh cilantro bunch from your grocer, placed it in the refrigerator under the same exact conditions as your other loved herb called parsley (they both belong to Apiaceae family) just to find it rotting and having a foul smell only a week later while your parsley still seems to be as fresh as on the day it was picked? Well, I think some people are genetically more evolved than others, those that can smell a rotten deal ahead a time! So, don't call my wife a mutant... well, alright, you can call her that, but in a good way ONLY! :-)
I am not a cilantro lover but I don't think it smells "soapy". I don't mind the smell at all - it's the bitter taste that I don't like.
For me, it's a stale musty odor that I find very repellent. Curiously enough, the ground seeds, coriander, have a completely different taste and smell which I find quite pleasant.
There is a similar genetic difference in the perception of the taste of broccoli and cauliflower - some people find it bitter, while others, like me, find it to be delicious.
Glad to see others think the same about the bitter taste!
I don't mind the smell. Never ate soap so I cannot compare.
Put me in the group that finds it bitter (also, broccoli and cauliflower are almost painfully bitter). I also find cilantro unpleasantly tart/sour tasting, like raw lemon juice. I'll eat it if the flavor is sufficiently disguised, as in pico de gallo where onions tend to drown out the cilantro. Otherwise, I won't go near it.
I'm someone who did not like it, then came to love it as a necessary ingredient of the Tex-Mex food I love. An acquired taste. I don't even smell the soap any more. And I can't imagine a Mexican shrimp cocktail without it!
Exactly. Salsa is just not salsa without cilantro. The same goes for pico de gallo. I am surprised that Chef Viviani does not like it. Cilantro is used in quite a bit of Italian cooking, so you'd think he would have grown with it and gotten used to it. I enjoy the smell of cilantro and basil, especially in a garden or kitchen, although some find basil to stink as well.
Hot-in-Miami, why would one get used to something that is so distasteful to eat? I understand it isn't to you, but to those of us who dislike it, it is really that bad. (By the way I also don't drink coffee - don't like the taste - and people have always said to me that you get "used to" the taste. Why would I want to get "used to" something that tastes horrible to me?)
As far as its presence in Italian cooking, I haven't found that to be the case, at least not in the Italian restaurants I go to or the Italian recipes I use (although of late this may have changed, since it seems to be the herb of choice for everything these days). However it seems like no one can prepare Mexican food without it, so I just avoid Mexican unless I make it myself.
I was recently in a restaurant and wanted to order the gazpacho, which years ago never had cilantro but now always does. I asked and the server told me it only has a little bit, but I knew that would be enough to ruin it for me so I didn't order it. I then received my entree - some kind of pork dish with no mention of cilantro in the menu's description - and it was completely loaded with cilantro. The server didn't think this was worth mentioning to me, even after I had specifically asked about the gazpacho? Really?
I won't go to that restaurant again, for obvious reasons. I wish people would be a little more understanding and considerate. This is why these days I just tell the server it is an allergy - they are a little more attentive when they think the dish might cause you to need an epi pen shot in the middle of their establishment.
myopinion, thank you for echoing what I have said to people for years. Why on earth would I try to get used to something that tastes so vile to me?! I too dislike cilantro, coffee, and certain other strong flavors (I've been convinced it's genetic for a long time, as my mother and brother have similar dislikes.)
On a similar note, cilantrophiles, don't try to tell us cilantrophobes that we are 'missing out' because we won't eat it. You probably dislike the flavor of dog poop; are you 'missing out' because you don't eat it, something you don't like? No. It's not missing out if you don't want to be doing something in the first place. I'm not missing out on cilantro or coffee, simply because I never liked the flavor of soap and/or burnt dirt in the first place.
Random, I noticed another poster below is a cilantro hater and has the user name "hates coffee". I, too, hate both cilantro and coffee. Wonder if there is any connection? Although I should add - my parents, sister, and husband all hate coffee as well, but none of them have a problem with cilantro.
Did any of you get used to the taste of beer? A lot of people I know admit they did not like beer the first time they tasted it, despite being guzzlers now.
The cilantro and coffee things goes hand-in-hand for all in my family; maybe there's a link.
hs321, I never got used to beer. I do force myself to tolerate it in social situations, but I'd always prefer something else. If all beer just disappeared from the planet, I would not be upset in the least. (And by tolerate, I mean non-hoppy beers. I can't handle the bitterness of hops :p )
Hmm, maybe there is a connection between cilantro hating and coffee hating, though in my case its more a "cilantro hating, coffee disliking". But I do know someone that loves coffee and hates cilantro, so there must be exceptions.
Interesting anecdotes about similar dislikes of cilantro and coffee... I have *hated* the taste of cilantro for as far as I can remember. I feel as though I can pick out 1 cilantro leaf in a bowl of salsa, and it makes the salsa taste absolutely horrible. I also strongly dislike coffee -- I've tried to drink it several times, but I can't take the flavor. Of course, small sample size anecdotes are anecdotes, but it is interesting, at least.
For what it's worth, I also don't like beer. Well, I've found a few that I can tolerate, but beer just has never really appealed to me. *shrug*
I used to despise cilantro. But, over time, I came to like it. No one made me do it, and no one suggested I should "get used" to it. However, it does make one wonder about the genetics part. If it were genetic, no amount of "getting used to it" would have made it taste good.
I like coffee.
What I find really distasteful is arugula. I can't imagine why people love it.
Do not mess with my cilantropitaz.
Leave it alone.
I am a cilantro hater. It tastes like soap to me. I find myself constantly asking at restaurants if it is used in dishes, because when it is, it truly taints the whole meal for me and makes it inedible. Imagine eating a delicious dish that someone has sprinkled ivory soap flakes over - that is what it is like.
I can detect cilantro in something the moment I bite into one of the cilantro pieces. It is not the odor for me, but definitely the taste. I discovered this accidentally when, years ago - before everyone was putting it in everything - I bought some cilantro and used it in a recipe I had without tasting it first. After I tasted the finished dish - a shredded carrot salad I was making for a special occasion dinner - I thought it was so awful that no one would eat it. But everyone enjoyed it except me. I learned soon afterwards that some of us seem to have a genetic difference that makes cilantro taste like soap - there is really no other good way to describe it.
I generally avoid Mexican restaurants because these days they put it in everything. I have taken to telling restaurant servers that I am allergic in order to make sure there is none in my food. Those who like cilantro just cannot imagine how disgusting it tastes to me and how much it ruins a meal!
I agree absolutely! I have always compared the taste to aluminum - metallic and bitter. It completely ruins any dish that it is in (for me at least). I find the flavour so strong that it overpowers everything else with its metal flavour. I never could figure out why it was so popular, but now I know. At least we haters are in good company! I gave a bit of a cheer when I read Julia Child's comment - that's exactly what I would do if I wouldn't get thrown out of the restaurant. :)
I think it tastes like rotten tomatoes. Just nasty... blech
@myopinion,
You really bought an herb and added it to a 'special occasion dinner' without even bothering to taste it first?
Forgive me for saying so, but that's a truly bizarre and inexplicable approach to the art of cooking any meal -- let alone one for a 'special occasion.'
Metalic, like aluminium foil, is the exact taste of cilantro to me, too. I don't think I notice a soap smell or taste. The first time I tasted it, I spit it out; didn't want to bite down on the piece of foil that I was convinced someone had dropped into the salsa.
I'm pro-cilantro. It's flavor is worth the social stigma when I grin with green flecked teeth after having a fine burrito. I do have friends that are extreme anti-cilantro, who describe the flavor as akin to tree bark and worse. We never seem to see eye-to-eye on the matter but ultimately this is merely a case of the 'kettle calling the pot black'. I have a thing against pine nuts, which taste bitter and alkali to me, where as many of my same anti-cilantro friends find them extraordinary. I wish I knew what they were experiencing as they savor those blasted things.
I enjoy cilantro. I worked for a doctor once who said it tasted like dirt. She said it was genetic, and this was six years ago! I think its just one of those things, you either like it, or you don't.
Maybe the people who like it are the mutants...
I despise cilantro, but I do not notice a soapy taste. If I smell or taste fresh cilantro, my body instantly rejects it (both taste and smell) and it's horrible. I don't mind it cooked into foods, as long as it's not the key ingredient. It does manage to literally ruin entire meals for me if I eat it accidentally. In other words, living in Texas with this 'mutant' sense of 'smell' SUCKS. haha.
Cilantro tastes like metal and is offensive.
Remember that kid in "A Christmas Story" who Ralphie “double-dog-dared” to lick the flag pole in the school yard and his tongue froze to it? THAT's what cilantro tastes like.
I absolutely adore cilantro. Fresh, cooked, you name it. I really like it in a salad with fresh spinach and nasturtium greens, and tossed with a citrus vinaigrette.
So ... when should I come over for lunch?
Great with Pine Kernels too... Have Coriander literally everyday (Well, most days anyway) and it's growing all over the garden...
Out of interest, it is a wonder herb:
I remember the first time I ate a burrito with cilantro. It has such a strong flavor and I was like, woah! Almost blew all my hair off. I really love it. I love it in all Mexican food, Thai or Indian foods, some Italian stuff and all my salads. I grow it in my garden. Yum!
I'm very anti-cilantro - the taste is appalling to me and I can't stand if it's in a dish I'm eating. I will ask restaurants if they put it in their dishes and have been known to pick it out if it somehow sneaks it's way in unsuspecting dishes (it's not just Mexican restaurants that use it!)
Both my wife and I think cilantro tastes like Brillo - soap and steel wool together. My twin sister has the same response. We don't use it in cooking. We all love basil and parsley, though. I don't find that Tex Mex like Moe's or Taco Bell is very cilantro-y, so I still like my weeky fix!
Blech, I have only eaten at Moe's a couple of times, but both times I found plenty of cilantro to avoid. Basically in those kind of places I can't eat any of the salsa options at all, and I don't see the point of Mexican without (cilantro-free) salsa!
Can't speak to Taco Bell, never eaten there.
In general I find it a good idea to just avoid all Mexican restaurants these days. I am truly not a picky eater or a demanding restaurant patron, but I sure seem like one when I have to practically beg them to not include any cilantro in my dishes!
Taco Bell: Avoid the 'Fiesta Salsa' and anything it's on. Cilantro.
Never been to Moe's.
I have been to Chipotle exactly once, and I'll never go back. Cilantro in EVERYTHING.
I love cilantro! When I was pregnant, though, I couldn't tolerate the taste or smell AT all. Just thinking about it made me queasy. Now I can't get enough of the stuff. Grew it in my garden this summer and let it flower. It flowered for quite a while and the bees & butterflies were crazy about it. Let it go to seed and now I'm using it in the hot carrots that I'm pickling.
The seeds, Coriander, have a completely different flavor than the leaves. Odd, but true.
I love Coriander, but detest Cilantro.
My wife and I ate once at an Asian restaurant. We began gagging as soon as we took the first bites of our meals, convinced that the kitchen had served us on plates coated with soapy dishwater. It didn't just SMELL like soap---it really tasted just like it, too. Ugh!!! No wonder so many tasteful people hate the stuff.
This is interesting, as my first experience was with my mom. We both got dishes with it in it, but we both remarked that it tasted like soap. We were asking each other, and eventually the waiter. We were baffled at the time, but this explains it...and confirms that it's genetic.
I wish restaurants would get a clue that not only are there a lot of people who don't care for cilantro, there are a lot of people who hate cilantro! I'm one of them - and it's not because it tastes like soap - it's the overwhelming strong taste. It wasn't that long ago that cilantro wasn't part of the dishes - now it seems like it's everywhere. And it basically ruins the meal for me. I know there are some people who like black walnuts and there are others who detest them. (I happen to love them.) I wonder what people would do if restaurants started putting black walnuts in all the dishes they offered - I'm sure there would be an outcry. I would like to ask the restaurants to offer their menu items "con cilantro" and "sin cilantro".
Exactly - it didn't used to be everywhere. Now it is the herb of the day and all of the sudden chefs can't live without it. Hopefully the fad will eventually run its course and chefs will discover there are other herbs out there.
I think cilantro tastes like like a dirty sweat sock, although I have never tasted a dirty sweat sock.
I can smell the cilantro but to me it smells a lot like jalapeno peppers. The taste to me is an instant burning sensation on my tongue with just the tiniest piece of it. Not the slow burn of an acid containing food like jalapeno peppers which requires a much larger piece. I can not eat salsa with even the smallest amount of it in there.
I have an unusual situation. I was first introduced to cilantro when I was studying Spanish in Costa Rica 30 years ago AND I was pregnant. I could not stand the stuff. This was a hate relationship that went on for years. I did not enjoy any food that contained it....then 30 years later, I moved back to Costa Rica and for some odd reason, I started to really like cilantro and now add it in many dishes I make.
So what caused the change? I have not idea. I used to hate it and now I love it.