Cilantro tasting like soap is fixable.
Even some who claim to have the genetic defect that causes Cilantro to taste like soap say the fix works.
The fix is exposure (same as with chilis).
I have a copy of the first Thai cookbook written in English. The author was an exchange student in Thailand. She couldn't stand Cilantro, and asked for the food served to her to be 'No Cilantro!'. This horrified her native associates - but this was Thailand, they either didn't understand or refused go comply, so she got plenty of Cilantro. She testifies that a few months later she was ordering "With extra Cilantro".
There was another lady who ran a group Web site called "I Hate Cilantro!". Of course, for her diatribes she had to do a lot of research. Some time later she submitted her resignation to the group, explaining that, due to exposure, she had come to quite like Cilantro.
Cilantro was the most popular herb across Europe, but for some reason it was inexplicably supplanted by Parsley. By that time, European merchants had introduce Cilantro worldwide. It is still used in the Canary Islands (Spain) and somewhat in Italy.
In my early cooking days I was mystified by recipes calling for "Italian Parsley" and "Chinese Parsley", until I finally found out it was Cilantro. Today, those terms are no longer used.
Of course, due to our ever more mixed demographics here in the US, Cilantro is everywhere. The markets I shop at have big bins of it, which are renewed every few hours. England probably also has plenty due to Indian influence.
The fix is exposure (same as with chilis).
I have a copy of the first Thai cookbook written in English. The author was an exchange student in Thailand. She couldn't stand Cilantro, and asked for the food served to her to be 'No Cilantro!'. This horrified her native associates - but this was Thailand, they either didn't understand or refused go comply, so she got plenty of Cilantro. She testifies that a few months later she was ordering "With extra Cilantro".
There was another lady who ran a group Web site called "I Hate Cilantro!". Of course, for her diatribes she had to do a lot of research. Some time later she submitted her resignation to the group, explaining that, due to exposure, she had come to quite like Cilantro.
Cilantro was the most popular herb across Europe, but for some reason it was inexplicably supplanted by Parsley. By that time, European merchants had introduce Cilantro worldwide. It is still used in the Canary Islands (Spain) and somewhat in Italy.
In my early cooking days I was mystified by recipes calling for "Italian Parsley" and "Chinese Parsley", until I finally found out it was Cilantro. Today, those terms are no longer used.
Of course, due to our ever more mixed demographics here in the US, Cilantro is everywhere. The markets I shop at have big bins of it, which are renewed every few hours. England probably also has plenty due to Indian influence.
