# Cilantro Ethnic



## NoraC (Feb 20, 2011)

Question regarding cilantro, specifically for those experienced with ethnic cooking with it: the bloody stuff bolts like crazy in the herb garden.  How do you ensure a steady, fresh supply "at home"?  Buying fresh herbs is OK, but I really prefer to grow them, so they are right there fresh and ready when I take a notion. 

I am growing (sorta) cilantro in Northern Middle Tennessee, so I am a little cooler in the summer than most of the places in which cilantro is a staple.  Cooler should retard bolting, but I only get about 6 weeks of good cilantro here, with maybe another month in the Fall.  I tried posing the "how to grow" question in the "gardening" section here, without many new insights, but when reading the posts of native chefs, explaining their own cuisine, I was struck by the thought that there might be some obvious trick to keeping the bloody stuff leafy, known to every Thai, Mexican, Indian, and Vietnamese on the earth, but denied to the Anglos.

Is there? Can you share?


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## Bolas De Fraile (Feb 21, 2011)

Cilantro/coriander bolts quicker than Usain, try the seed "chechnya" and plant at 1 to 2 week intervals in a shady spot.

Cheats trick, over here in the supermarkets you can buy very cheap pots of Cilantro, buy a pot put it outside to harden off for a few days then split into 4 clumps and repot into the same size pot as the original or into your soil.
The strongest flavor is in the root I use the leaf as a garnish, so as it is nearly impossible to stop it Usaining I grow it in pots, let it bolt then wash and dry the roots and buy a pack of leaves from the s/market


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## Claire (Feb 21, 2011)

This one cracks me up.  I cannot grow it on purpose to save my life, it bolts within weeks.  And I've tried to grow it in so many places you wouldn't believe.  But oddities occur.  Right now I have a bunch I just am clipping at the bottom and keeping like it was a bouquet of flowers.  I swear the darned bunch is living longer than any I've kept in the ground.  

Once my husband was mowing the lawn and came in and asked me, "Claire, isn't this an herb?"  Yeah, it's cilantro.  It was Florida, and I couldn't grow it in my garden to save my life, but a wild seed from the garden planted itself in the middle of the yard.  It lived on for a year or so.  Whenever hubby went to mow the yard, I'd go out and harvest this one cilantro plant.  Then he'd mow the yard, and a week later I'd have more cilantro.  It was so weird.


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## CWS4322 (Feb 21, 2011)

I sow the seeds so the plants are shaded by other plants...still bolts.

I did buy a bunch for the mussels the other day. I had my menu planned so put the rest in the dehydrator. I've frozen it in the past, I've made a "paste" out of it (added a little water and froze that), and this time I dehydrated the leaves. They have a lot of flavor...I still prefer fresh, but I hate throwing it out and hate that it bolts. I suspect I'll be dehydrating it this summer before it bolts...


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## Claire (Feb 28, 2011)

I like frozen rather than drying when it comes to cilantro.  I freeze into a sort of "pesto" with southeast Asian or Mexican spices, nuts, oils, etc.  Then a dollop can go into a curry (when you think of it, the Asian I make is actually a kind of green curry paste) or chili or sauce.  It tastes more like cilantro to me than dry.

I'm the same with basil.  Frozen pesto combinations taste better than dry.


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## NoraC (Mar 1, 2011)

I do prefer freezing to drying; it seems there is no "no bolting" trick, though I appreciate the ideas on preserving and dividing.


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## Kayelle (Mar 7, 2011)

I love cilantro, even as part of the greens in green salads.  I also have no luck growing the stuff though.
I hope I don't sound dumb, but I have no idea what the word *bolts *means in this context. Can someone explain for me?


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## CraigC (Mar 7, 2011)

Kayelle said:


> I love cilantro, even as part of the greens in green salads. I also have no luck growing the stuff though.
> I hope I don't sound dumb, but I have no idea what the word *bolts *means in this context. Can someone explain for me?


 
Flowering.

Craig


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## Zereh (Mar 7, 2011)

How we all would love it to look in our gardens:







Bolted cilantro:


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## Kayelle (Mar 7, 2011)

Ahhhhhhh haaaaaaa.........thanks to both of you.  Yep, mine just flowers and looks like the second picture.


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## taxlady (Mar 7, 2011)

I let the flowers go to seed and collect those yummy coriander seeds.


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## Claire (Mar 8, 2011)

The photos say it all, but bolting generally means when a plant goes to seed, next stop death.  Lettuce tends to get a little bitter, anyway, it means the plant has given up the ghost, quit producing, and has gone to seed for the next generation to take over.  In hot weather a lot of greens and some herbs (notoriously cilantro) will bolt prematurely, and you don't harvest what you've worked so hard to sow.  In cilantro's case, as some have said, you have a perfectly good spice, coriander seed.  It just doesn't taste the same as cilantro when you want that fresh herb flavor in southeast Asian or Mexican dishes.


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## taxlady (Mar 8, 2011)

Claire said:


> ...
> 
> In cilantro's case, as some have said, you have a perfectly good spice, coriander seed.  It just doesn't taste the same as cilantro when you want that fresh herb flavor in southeast Asian or Mexican dishes.



Thank goodness 

I'm not a fan of cilantro, but I adore coriander, especially the smell when I grind it.


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## niquejim (Mar 8, 2011)

Try growing culantro instead
Eryngium foetidum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Easier to grow than cilantro with a stronger flavor


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## NoraC (Mar 8, 2011)

Culantro, huh!  It's definitely worth a try.  Have you grown it successfully in Florida?


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## taxlady (Mar 8, 2011)

niquejim said:


> Try growing culantro instead
> Eryngium foetidum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> Easier to grow than cilantro with a stronger flavor



I'm wary of something with foetidum in its name. It means stinky.


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## niquejim (Mar 9, 2011)

NoraC said:


> Culantro, huh! It's definitely worth a try. Have you grown it successfully in Florida?


 
Yes it grows well here. 



taxlady said:


> I'm wary of something with foetidum in its name. It means stinky.


 
For those who don't like cilantro you'd be right. Think of it as stronger smelling cilantro


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## CWS4322 (Mar 9, 2011)

Farm Boy had cilantro on special for 99 cents so I bought a bunch and made cilantro pesto today. I froze it. I plan on using it on grilled salmon and chicken sandwiches.


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## Kayelle (Mar 10, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> Farm Boy had cilantro on special for 99 cents so I bought a bunch and made cilantro pesto today. I froze it. I plan on using it on grilled salmon and chicken sandwiches.



Cilantro pesto........why didn't I think of that!  Love the stuff. On special for 99 cents made my eyes pop.  Holy cow, I buy it at the nearby Mexican market for 25 cents for a large bunch. It doesn't pay for me to grow it at that price. I also use lots of white onions, and I can buy them there for 4lb for a dollar.  White onions at the supermarket have been $1.89 lb.
Love my little Mexican market.


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## CWS4322 (Mar 10, 2011)

> Holy cow, I buy it at the nearby Mexican market for 25 cents for a large bunch.


 And this is why I do grow it. Usually it is around $1.49/ bunch, so that was actually a deal <g>. We don't have a nearby Mexican market...sigh.


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## Zereh (Mar 10, 2011)

I am so lucky to live within close distance to a myriad of small ethnic markets. Not only do I find all kinds of interesting ingredients I also find great prices on everyday food. Oh, and I've also learned that "merhaba" means Hello in Turkish!


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## CWS4322 (Mar 16, 2011)

Cilantro pesto with pepitas

In my effort to rid my life of some of the "junk" I have, I've been scanning recipes from magazines I've saved (and moved more times than I'd like to admit). Well, the May 1986 Bon Appetit had a recipe for cilantro pesto. Pretty much the same as basil-based pesto except you use pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of other nuts and add lime juice. There is also a recipe for chili pasta dough in that issue that intrigues me. Basically, pasta dough to which you had tomato paste and cumin. The filling was chorizo and instead of ravioli, the article had instructions for shaping the pasta into little sombreros. I think I'll have to dig out the pasta machine and give this recipe a whirl.


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## Robert Barnett (Jun 24, 2011)

I use an Aero Garden for all of my herbs. It is easy to do. Nothing bolts. I have for for various herbs and four for lettuce. I tried doing cherry tomatoes and jalapenos ,but the tomatoes had thick skins and were watery and totally tasteless and the jalapenos so hot that they caused coughing I. Other rooms of the house when I cooked some. Won't do either again in the Aero Garden. The herbs and lettuce however are better than any I have grown outdoors, quite happy.

Robert


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## Claire (Jun 25, 2011)

I'm looking to see if I've written this on this particular thread or not.  I've always had a problem with the stuff bolting, way, way, too early.  When we lived in Florida, one day hubby came in from mowing the lawn.  "Claire, I think that is an herb?"  Sure as heck, the cilantro I could never grow in the garden was living in the middle of the lawn.  So every time DH mowed the lawn, I'd go out and cut it to the ground. I'm not really sure if it is a perrenial, biennual, etc, but it seems we got the better part of a year out of the darned plant,  even when I didn't need it so just let hubby mow it as part of the grass.


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## Claire (Jun 25, 2011)

Oh, by the way, Zerah, loved the picture of cilantro in a vase.  In younger days, I would often give people bouquets of herbs from my garden as hostess gifts.  Most people loved them, but some just didn't "get" it (acted like I'd given them a bouquet of weeds).  I have the best herb garden I've ever had right now, but don't have an appreciative audience for an herb bouquet.


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## Robert Barnett (Jun 25, 2011)

I could never get dill to grow outside, no problems with my Aero Garden but out side it just wouldn't do much. A few years ago I got a small clump that went to head, then died. This year I have "volunteer" dill all over the back yard. I guess somethings are just happy when you abuse, ignore and forget about them.

Speaking of mowing things. I saw some landscapers do this with daisy's. Instead of clipping them back each year with clippers they just used a high weed mower and mowed them. They always came back really strong with lots of blooms. I guess nothing says I love you, please grow like a lawnmower! 

Robert


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## justplainbill (Jun 25, 2011)

Robert Barnett said:


> I could never get dill to grow outside, no problems with my Aero Garden but out side it just wouldn't do much. A few years ago I got a small clump that went to head, then died. This year I have "volunteer" dill all over the back yard. I guess somethings are just happy when you abuse, ignore and forget about them.
> 
> Speaking of mowing things. I saw some landscapers do this with daisy's. Instead of clipping them back each year with clippers they just used a high weed mower and mowed them. They always came back really strong with lots of blooms. I guess nothing says I love you, please grow like a lawnmower!
> 
> Robert


My problem with dill is it goes to seed before the Kirby cukes are big enough to pickle.


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## BreezyCooking (Jun 26, 2011)

justplainbill said:


> My problem with dill is it goes to seed before the Kirby cukes are big enough to pickle.


 
The key to beating that problem is to make successive sowings of dill every couple of weeks.

My dad used to pickle not only cukes, but also all of the end-of-season green tomatoes, & by making successive sowings of dill he always had more than enough dill foliage & seed heads right up until frost.


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## cave76 (Oct 8, 2011)

Coming late to this party ( I just joined) but years of growing cilantro taught me some things.

It likes cool weather, not hot or cold.
It doesn't like to be transplanted! Really doesn't like it although once or twice I had minimal success with that. '

The seeds are HARD. I soak them for a a day or so, then scarify it by putting them between paper towel sheets and pressing a rolling pin over them. (Scarify means to scratch the surface a little. Since I couldn't see myself taking each seed and scratching it------- I did the rolling pin thing.)

Then I put them in a ziploc baggie wrapped in moist paper towel and watched and waited until I saw a little 'foot' start to form. (That's the root).

Then I'd put them out in the garden, scattered fairly thickly, cover with some dirt about 1/4 inch thick and wait. Often covered them with a burlap sack till they started popping up, but I imagine burlap sacks have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I know that everyone fell asleep after one paragraph----- but it's a lot easier than you think. LOL

It WILL bolt at the first sign of hot weather. But I grew it for years using this method while living near San Francisco---- so the weather was milder than many areas.


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## Dawgluver (Oct 8, 2011)

cave76 said:
			
		

> Coming late to this party ( I just joined) but years of growing cilantro taught me some things.
> 
> It likes cool weather, not hot or cold.
> It doesn't like to be transplanted! Really doesn't like it although once or twice I had minimal success with that. '
> ...



Wow, Cave76, you really know your stuff!  Thanks for the info!


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## cave76 (Oct 8, 2011)

Your welcome! At least you didn't fall asleep. (grin)


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## Claire (Oct 8, 2011)

My latest is that hubby and I thought maybe we'd try planting it in a planter.  Of course we got maybe two meals, and it all bolted.  Then, yesterday, I was out trying to do some of the clearing of the garden for autumn, and looked at the planter, and there is a beautiful little cilantro plant.  Only three leaves.  I'm going to baby it for a few days then kill it, maybe for just a little garnish with the last tomatoes and some tortilla chips.


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