My dad cannot stand it; he’s got that gene where it tastes like strong soap for him. It’s like 10% that bad for me. I can stand a little bit as a garnish, but any more than a light sprinkle and it overpowers the other flavors of the dish. So I don’t hate it, but I definitely don’t love it.
This last year is the first I heard about the cilantro soap gene. It is interesting that we can learn about stuff like that now instead of just like it/hate it. Honestly I never thought about it but most of my home or restaurant cuisine doesn’t include fresh cilantro. I will get a fresh bunch and try to seriously taste it to see if I get any “soap” thing. I don’t think so because it never occurred to me so I probably didn’t taste it, whatever “it” is.
For those that taste “soap” what is it like? Is it more a texture/sensation or just a scent like many dish soaps that have various smelly scents added?
@pmarin For me, it just gives those foods a really bad aftertaste like you literally got soap in your mouth. At times, it can even taste like something rancid. It’s a weird thing.
@pmarin My first encounter with it was in Vietnamese food. We were in San Francisco and I complained to our friends that my dish hadn’t been rinsed enough because the food tasted soapy. And they laughed and said “Oh! That’s cilantro!” My whole family dislikes it, especially my mother. I’ve gotten so I can tolerate it in Mexican food, but I’d never eat it plain.
My spouse says it literally tastes like someone didn’t rinse the dishes after washing them. I have a slight variant where it smells and tastes more like dirt than soap.
For both of us, if it’s in a salsa, we can pick out the cilantro and it tastes fine. It doesn’t “infect” anything else generally speaking.
I occasionally buy cilantro in case it really does remove heavy metals from the body, but then I forget I bought it and it turns to mush so I have to throw it out. Not very cost effective. When I do get to eat it, it doesn’t taste like soap to me.
@ZeroCharisma Wow, graphic images. That said, I’m actually looking for someone who can clean my windows, make me some French Press coffee, and also mow my lawn. I’ll pay competitive rates, plus a bonus if the coffee is good. When can you get here?
We always have cilantro in our house, eat it on tacos a lot. I like it in dishes as long as you don’t go overboard with it, then it taste rancid to me.
There are actually a fair amount of ‘tasting’ genes. The classic was the bitter gene I learned about as a kid, even, concept was identified back in 1931
i learned it in relationship to brussel sprouts back before they were bred to be less bitter
I read somewhere about it and people who life coffee black as well. (not the same gene but same concept) and this is not the article but i like it cause it includes liking dark vs milk chocolate, which I find interesting
its ok, a bit soapy if used to liberally. however i really f-ing hate cilantro because my wife is allergic and it keeps popping up in more and more different foods
I’m one of the unfortunate people who thinks that cilantro tastes like soap
@lonocat same here
@lonocat
@tweezak yes, a a child my Mom introduced me to the taste of dial soap, on more than one occasion, and I have to say that cilantro tastes similar.
@lonocat @tweezak Odd. I find it tastes more like Irish Spring.
Yes I do.
It’s my all-time favorite herb. I always ask for extra. Cilantro margaritas are amazing!
@troy Ok! You are cut off. No more margaritas until Monday.
@troy just for you
My dad cannot stand it; he’s got that gene where it tastes like strong soap for him. It’s like 10% that bad for me. I can stand a little bit as a garnish, but any more than a light sprinkle and it overpowers the other flavors of the dish. So I don’t hate it, but I definitely don’t love it.
This last year is the first I heard about the cilantro soap gene. It is interesting that we can learn about stuff like that now instead of just like it/hate it. Honestly I never thought about it but most of my home or restaurant cuisine doesn’t include fresh cilantro. I will get a fresh bunch and try to seriously taste it to see if I get any “soap” thing. I don’t think so because it never occurred to me so I probably didn’t taste it, whatever “it” is.
For those that taste “soap” what is it like? Is it more a texture/sensation or just a scent like many dish soaps that have various smelly scents added?
@pmarin For me, it just gives those foods a really bad aftertaste like you literally got soap in your mouth. At times, it can even taste like something rancid. It’s a weird thing.
@pmarin My first encounter with it was in Vietnamese food. We were in San Francisco and I complained to our friends that my dish hadn’t been rinsed enough because the food tasted soapy. And they laughed and said “Oh! That’s cilantro!” My whole family dislikes it, especially my mother. I’ve gotten so I can tolerate it in Mexican food, but I’d never eat it plain.
@Kyeh @pmarin
This is the first I’m hearing of the soapy cilantro gene.
I’ve never eaten soap, but if it tastes as good as cilantro I might start.
My spouse says it literally tastes like someone didn’t rinse the dishes after washing them. I have a slight variant where it smells and tastes more like dirt than soap.
For both of us, if it’s in a salsa, we can pick out the cilantro and it tastes fine. It doesn’t “infect” anything else generally speaking.
@jakeline Haha - I was just writing something similar above. (Dish soap!)
I occasionally buy cilantro in case it really does remove heavy metals from the body, but then I forget I bought it and it turns to mush so I have to throw it out. Not very cost effective. When I do get to eat it, it doesn’t taste like soap to me.
Soap tastes like vanilla ice cream compared to the industrial window cleaner French-pressed through freshly cut lawn clippings flavor of cilantro.
@ZeroCharisma Wow, graphic images. That said, I’m actually looking for someone who can clean my windows, make me some French Press coffee, and also mow my lawn. I’ll pay competitive rates, plus a bonus if the coffee is good. When can you get here?
@ZeroCharisma
That’s a great and eloquent description. I’m going to share it with my cilantro-loathing family!
We always have cilantro in our house, eat it on tacos a lot. I like it in dishes as long as you don’t go overboard with it, then it taste rancid to me.
There are actually a fair amount of ‘tasting’ genes. The classic was the bitter gene I learned about as a kid, even, concept was identified back in 1931
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/basics/ptc/
i learned it in relationship to brussel sprouts back before they were bred to be less bitter
I read somewhere about it and people who life coffee black as well. (not the same gene but same concept) and this is not the article but i like it cause it includes liking dark vs milk chocolate, which I find interesting
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/12/why-you-drink-black-coffee-genes/
its ok, a bit soapy if used to liberally. however i really f-ing hate cilantro because my wife is allergic and it keeps popping up in more and more different foods