# Soapy Carrots



## POINGjam (May 10, 2009)

Is there a way to get rid of the soapy taste of carrots?  I've had some cooked carrots before that tasted perfect, but every time I cook them, they end up soapy anyway (and ruin whatever I've cooked them in).  Should I boil them by themselves, then drain the water?


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## GB (May 10, 2009)

They shouldn't taste soapy. I mean no disrespect when I ask this, but are you first washing them with soap? I ask because I have never tasted anything close to soap when eating carrots.


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## POINGjam (May 10, 2009)

No, I just rinse them in water.  It's not uncommon for people to complain that carrots taste soapy.  It's the terpenoids in them, which apparently diminish with cooking, but I don't seem to be doing it right.


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## GB (May 10, 2009)

That is a new one for me. I have never heard that before. Well I am sure someone will have an answer for you soon. Welcome to the site.


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## Constance (May 10, 2009)

I've never had carrots taste soapy, but I'll tell you what does, and that's cilantro. Pardon my humble opinion, but I wouldn't give you a nickel for a truckload of the stuff.


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## MexicoKaren (May 10, 2009)

Apparently, some people have an enzyme that makes cilantro taste like soap to them. And in the little googling I've done on this, I found that cilantro, carrots and parsley are all in the same family...POINGJam, does cilantro taste soapy to you also? I am one of the lucky ones...I'm the woman you see in the produce department inhaling the wonderful smell of cilantro leaves.


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## Constance (May 10, 2009)

Karen, I love carrots and parsley...but I have a problem with cilantro. I think my problem is that I grew a bunch of it one year, and when I cut it off and carried the armloads of herb in the kitchen, DH and I both almost got sick from the soapy smell.


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## MexicoKaren (May 10, 2009)

Oh too bad! I do understand that it doesn't taste the same to everyone.


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## Katie H (May 10, 2009)

This is a fascinating discussion because I, too, find cilantro soapy-tasting.  However, it doesn't taste soapy to me in small quantities.  I also have a different reaction to dried cilantro versus fresh.  I can take much more dried than I can fresh.

On another vein, I have been allergic to cooked carrots since I was an infant.  It's only been in recent years that I've been able to eat cooked carrots in limited amounts.  Not sure what that's about, but my father (a physician) surmised that there was a chemical change in carrots when they were cooked that caused me to react.  Goofy thing is, I really, really like cooked carrots.  Go figure.


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## POINGjam (May 11, 2009)

Yeah, cilantro tastes like soap to me.  A lot of vegetables do until I cook them.  I had cooked carrots in pasta one time that had none of the soapy taste, so I'm hoping to figure out how they managed it.  Does anyone know?


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## merrygrammarian (Oct 13, 2016)

*Genetics are to blame*

For a certain number of people of European heritage (namely Swedish and their relatives), there is an enzyme in your saliva that causes cilantro, and only cilantro, to taste bitter. You can blame your genetics, not your cooking! If you're using cilantro in your cooking, and you find that it tastes bitter or soapy, ask someone else to taste it for you. As for other veggies, salt can sometimes cut a bitter flavor.


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## Sue Lau (Oct 24, 2016)

I wonder if some of the cilantro produce is actually culantro, or possibly crossed with it. Culantro has a stronger flavor. I don't see it sold everywhere, but wouldn't be surprised if some markets passed it off as such if there was a significant price difference.


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## CraigC (Oct 25, 2016)

mouse said:


> I wonder if some of the cilantro produce is actually culantro, or possibly crossed with it. Culantro has a stronger flavor. I don't see it sold everywhere, but wouldn't be surprised if some markets passed it off as such if there was a significant price difference.



Pretty difficult to look at both and not see a difference. I see culantro used more in Puerto Rican cooking than most other Latin/Caribbean cooking.


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## Farmer Jon (Oct 25, 2016)

Do you wash your pots in a dish washer? I accidentally left my favorite coffee cup (travel mug) at a friends house and his wife washed  it in the dishwasher. It took me a week to get he soapy taste out.


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## GotGarlic (Oct 25, 2016)

mouse said:


> I wonder if some of the cilantro produce is actually culantro, or possibly crossed with it. Culantro has a stronger flavor. I don't see it sold everywhere, but wouldn't be surprised if some markets passed it off as such if there was a significant price difference.



I doubt it. They don't look anything alike. 

Some people have a genetic reason for an aversion to cilantro, although apparently it can be changed if the person wants to. I used to think cilantro tasted soapy, but I figured it was one of those things I would get used to as I grew up. I didn't like bell peppers as a child, either. 

For more information: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...ntro-its-in-your-genes-and-maybe-in-your-head


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## RPCookin (Oct 25, 2016)

Farmer Jon said:


> Do you wash your pots in a dish washer? I accidentally left my favorite coffee cup (travel mug) at a friends house and his wife washed  it in the dishwasher. It took me a week to get he soapy taste out.



Then something isn't right with that dishwasher.  I've never had any sort of soapy taste from anything run through the dishwasher, and I've been cleaning dishes that way for at least 40 years, and with a variety of dishwasher brands.


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## GotGarlic (Oct 25, 2016)

Same here, RP. 

Re: soapy tasting carrots (and I know the OP is long gone lol), but I don't like the taste of carrots with the peel still on. Not sure I'd call it soapy, but it is bitter-tasting to me.


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## Farmer Jon (Oct 28, 2016)

RPCookin said:


> Then something isn't right with that dishwasher.  I've never had any sort of soapy taste from anything run through the dishwasher, and I've been cleaning dishes that way for at least 40 years, and with a variety of dishwasher brands.



She tends to use too much soap.


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