Last year, I started to grow a variety of cilantro, that is said to be heat-tolerant, but still bolting way before summer, I began to harvest seed in late April and early May, it's the first time I have collected coriander.
The seeds taste like soap.
At first, I thought it might be some residue from the soapy water I sprayed to kill aphids, which love juicy unripe green berries. As a test to see if there is any residue, I stirred seeds in water, no bubbles, but that might not mean anything.
So, I searched and found out there is a gene called OR6A2, which enables one to have soapy taste from cilantro, which are the leaves, and not from seeds as claimed by many articles. You can find links to studies from this NPR article.
I skimmed through one of the two studies, A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference, which proposed the gene, but it only studied about the leaves. Same as another study, Genetic Analysis of Chemosensory Traits in Human Twins. There was nothing about the taste of the seeds in the studies, only the odor/smell and flavor.
A few articles claimed the seeds taste great even the leaves taste like soap.
That is not my case.
Well, actually, it kind of is and not. But before getting into that, I'd like to mention that I googled [coriander "seeds taste like soap"] to see if anyone likes me, only a handful a few hits, but I am not the only one.
But that could be majority of people with the gene have never tasted raw coriander, the seeds, so they never know. And when I tasted the original seeds I bought to grow cilantro, the soapy taste was barely detectable, the seeds I grew from them were like eating soap, I could even smell like washing powder in the the container storing the seeds, not really like soapy scent, but a pungent smell. You know it's a spice smell, but also a scent from sniffing cleaning product, and putting two together doesn't equal good stuff.
Something has to be going on here, perhaps the original seeds were old and lost the smell or they would smell and taste the same. I didn't read those studies, maybe they have mentioned it or those article authors misquoted or made up stuff to claim seeds are still good to taste for people with the gene.
I went back to taste cilantro and I certainly tasted soapy flavor this time, but that flavor was always there and I always like that flavor. It's just never registered in my mind that's soapy, it was too mild and more like spice flavor; but in seeds, it's like ten times or even twenty times stronger, it's not pleasant.
Curry and some recipes use coriander as spice, but I've never tasted soapy in any dishes using coriander, I suspected toasting would change the flavor and the smell, I think coriander is only used after toasting in culinary.
I took five seeds, toasted whole. There was no soapy taste when I put the toasted whole seeds in my mouth, but as I bit into them, the taste came back, but slightly milder. There was also a nutty taste since the seed coat was toasted, which was expected, but there is no soapy smell.
Five more seeds, but crushed into ten halves. The soapy taste was much milder, but still there. If we toast ground coriander, I believe the soapy taste might just be barely there.
I began to believe some articles described coriander has citrus flavor which was actually the soapy taste I got, but only stronger. To me, I believe it's just the intensity of that flavor, mild is sort of citrus and spice flavor, but stronger definitely is soap.
Perhaps, it could also the interpretation of the flavor and smell and either you like citrus flavor or not. I've got a theory, there is a lot of cleaning products with the word citrus on their label, and we might have associated that citrus smell with soapy odor—not actually soap per se, but soap means clean—just because of that.
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| Coriander |
The seeds taste like soap.
At first, I thought it might be some residue from the soapy water I sprayed to kill aphids, which love juicy unripe green berries. As a test to see if there is any residue, I stirred seeds in water, no bubbles, but that might not mean anything.
So, I searched and found out there is a gene called OR6A2, which enables one to have soapy taste from cilantro, which are the leaves, and not from seeds as claimed by many articles. You can find links to studies from this NPR article.
I skimmed through one of the two studies, A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference, which proposed the gene, but it only studied about the leaves. Same as another study, Genetic Analysis of Chemosensory Traits in Human Twins. There was nothing about the taste of the seeds in the studies, only the odor/smell and flavor.
A few articles claimed the seeds taste great even the leaves taste like soap.
That is not my case.
Well, actually, it kind of is and not. But before getting into that, I'd like to mention that I googled [coriander "seeds taste like soap"] to see if anyone likes me, only a handful a few hits, but I am not the only one.
But that could be majority of people with the gene have never tasted raw coriander, the seeds, so they never know. And when I tasted the original seeds I bought to grow cilantro, the soapy taste was barely detectable, the seeds I grew from them were like eating soap, I could even smell like washing powder in the the container storing the seeds, not really like soapy scent, but a pungent smell. You know it's a spice smell, but also a scent from sniffing cleaning product, and putting two together doesn't equal good stuff.
Something has to be going on here, perhaps the original seeds were old and lost the smell or they would smell and taste the same. I didn't read those studies, maybe they have mentioned it or those article authors misquoted or made up stuff to claim seeds are still good to taste for people with the gene.
I went back to taste cilantro and I certainly tasted soapy flavor this time, but that flavor was always there and I always like that flavor. It's just never registered in my mind that's soapy, it was too mild and more like spice flavor; but in seeds, it's like ten times or even twenty times stronger, it's not pleasant.
Curry and some recipes use coriander as spice, but I've never tasted soapy in any dishes using coriander, I suspected toasting would change the flavor and the smell, I think coriander is only used after toasting in culinary.
I took five seeds, toasted whole. There was no soapy taste when I put the toasted whole seeds in my mouth, but as I bit into them, the taste came back, but slightly milder. There was also a nutty taste since the seed coat was toasted, which was expected, but there is no soapy smell.
Five more seeds, but crushed into ten halves. The soapy taste was much milder, but still there. If we toast ground coriander, I believe the soapy taste might just be barely there.
I began to believe some articles described coriander has citrus flavor which was actually the soapy taste I got, but only stronger. To me, I believe it's just the intensity of that flavor, mild is sort of citrus and spice flavor, but stronger definitely is soap.
Perhaps, it could also the interpretation of the flavor and smell and either you like citrus flavor or not. I've got a theory, there is a lot of cleaning products with the word citrus on their label, and we might have associated that citrus smell with soapy odor—not actually soap per se, but soap means clean—just because of that.
You are definitely not alone. Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteCilantro tastes like soap. Period.
ReplyDelete