Spicy Saturday: Cilantro

In Today's blog post we are going to discuss: Cilantro 🌱⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Cilantro is one of the herbs that you either LOVE IT or HATE IT!! Its name come from the Greek work koris which actually means “bedbug” because of the plants strong smell. If you LOVE IT you will notice Cilantro’s citrusy, peppery flavor and if you HATE IT you will swear that it tastes bitter and soapy!! The bitter, soapy tastes come from the way that some people’s taste buds process Cilantro’s essential oils. 💁⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
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Cilantro is native to the Mediterranean region including North Africa & East Asia and is cultivated there along with Latin America and the United States. In regions that have hot summers Cilantro is usually cultivated in the fall and harvested early the following year. The leaves and roots are used for Cilantro and if the plants seed the seeds are what we know as Coriander (more on that one in another post). 👍⠀
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Cilantro is used in many traditional dishes such as Curry Paste, Shawarma Spice Blend, and Tomatillo Salsa Verde. It is also good in Creamed Spinach, Bechamel Sauce, Split Pea Soup, Cucumber Relish, and many other veggie and meat dishes. It makes a Great veggie drizzle by seasoning melted unsalted butter with crushed cilantro leaves and lemon juice to pour over steamed broccoli, and it makes amazing pork meatballs when mixed with ground pork, salt and pepper! 👌⠀