In the U.S., it's common for "coriander" to refer to the seeds, and "cilantro" to refer to the stems and leaves.
Not trying to justify that practice, just explaining.
Not trying to justify that practice, just explaining.
I will. Seeds and the leaves serve very different purposes and tastes and so having different words is great :}
My speculation is that cilantro/coriander leaves entered the American mainstream via their use in Mexican food, which is why the Spanish word stuck when it comes to the leaves. But I could be wrong.
And Coriander is from Old French https://www.etymonline.com/word/coriander?ref=etymonline_cro... traced all the way back to
> from Greek koriannon, often said by botanists to be related to koris "bedbug" from the bad smell of the unripe fruit, or perhaps it is a non-Indo-European word conformed to the Greek insect name.
I also have the soap gene and avoid cilantro. A friend told me he heard that if you harvest the cilantro before it flowers, then whatever causes the soapiness is not there. He had some that he’d gotten from a co-op, I skeptically tried a bit, and I’ll be damned! It’s true!
This obviously won’t help you at the grocery store or at restaurants, but if you want to know why most people rave about it, track some down. It’s quite tasty.