Deciphering Cilantro

So what is the difference between Cilantro and Parsley?

drawings of unidentifiable flora from the Voynich Manuscript
which is still undeciphered
and
 wiki'ed as "the world's most mysterious manuscript"

Err.... 

I've been able to console many customers with their cilantro vs. coriander dilemma (they're the same plant -- coriander is just cilantro's seed) -- but never thought to be ready to describe the difference between the two herbs.  Perhaps it's a simple question, but I'm all for giving you all TMI about the difference between the two.

Can you tell the difference?

Parsley is on the LEFT.  Cilantro on the right.  I still have trouble telling the difference sometimes but the main thing is the shape of the leaves.  The flat-leaf parsley has longer leaves whereas the cilantro is more compact... the best way to learn is to go to the store and check it out in reality.

First, they're easily confused because they are closely related, both being from the Apiaceae or Umbel family (as are carrots, celery, fennel, dill, and wild Queen Anne's lace, etc.)

As for the differences.  It's hard to keep them separate in an organized-matter, so here is my attempt at organizing, hopefully not overkill:

Whew!

Ok, so -- about cilantro being soapy.  There's a nice article about this, and here are a few key excerpts:

  The authoritative Oxford Companion to Food notes that the word “coriander” is said to derive from the Greek word for bedbug, that cilantro aroma “has been compared with the smell of bug-infested bedclothes” and that “Europeans often have difficulty in overcoming their initial aversion to this smell.”   

...

The senses of smell and taste evolved to evoke strong emotions, he explained, because they were critical to finding food and mates and avoiding poisons and predators. When we taste a food, the brain searches its memory to find a pattern from past experience that the flavor belongs to. Then it uses that pattern to create a perception of flavor, including an evaluation of its desirability.
If the flavor doesn’t fit a familiar food experience, and instead fits into a pattern that involves chemical cleaning agents and dirt, or crawly insects, then the brain highlights the mismatch and the potential threat to our safety. We react strongly and throw the offending ingredient on the floor where it belongs. 

...

“When your brain detects a potential threat, it narrows your attention,” Dr. Gottfried told me in a telephone conversation. “You don’t need to know that a dangerous food has a hint of asparagus and sorrel to it. You just get it away from your mouth.”But he explained that every new experience causes the brain to update and enlarge its set of patterns, and this can lead to a shift in how we perceive a food.“I didn’t like cilantro to begin with,” he said. “But I love food, and I ate all kinds of things, and I kept encountering it. My brain must have developed new patterns for cilantro flavor from those experiences, which included pleasure from the other flavors and the sharing with friends and family. That’s how people in cilantro-eating countries experience it every day." NY Times, Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap 

Pretty cool.

Also, it's important to respect your herbs and keep them fresh.  For fresh green herbs like cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, etc. once you want to store them make sure they are dry and snip off the ends.  Place them in a cup or jar of clean water like flowers.

If you're going to store them in the fridge place a plastic bag over the top loosely to protect flavor.  Some recommend keeping basil and parsley room-temp because they can be damaged if they get too cold and most herbs will not last as long if the leaves get damp.

Change water as needed -- can keep herbs fresh and usable for up to 2 weeks!

Consider yourself debriefed but don't get frustrated if your cilantro-parsley wires cross -- it happens.

Sensitive Plant

I really like this.  

Looking to start some from seed again next year.

Rebel Pineapple

Thanks Stephen & Rebel Youth by Karlheinz Weinberger

Pineapples are difficult to figure out.  Especially considering that Hawaii is the most local source for the golden fruits we find in our Midwestern grocery store.

Like most fruits -- pineapples are best at peak maturity and ripeness.  However a fully-mature pineapple (the super-yellow one with uniform coloring on the far-left) is not fit to be shipped.  It is too juicy and soft and would never make it to our produce shelves in solid-form.  So the only way you can really enjoy a true, ripe pineapple is to either go to Hawaii or grow a pineapple from the original pineapple's top in your home (but it will take 2 to 3 years)!

But in the meantime, let's focus on how to improve our abilities to pick-out our second-best, lower-48 variety pineapple from the produce department.  Our pineapples are picked and arrive to us mature and hopefully fresh (bright and greenish, center pineapple in photo above) but unripe -- unfortunately, once a pineapple is picked it will not mature any further.  But you can still ripen it on your counter.

So, now you're looking for three things: mature, fresh, and then desired ripeness.

How to find the freshest, most mature, and ripening pineapple in the line-up:

• Mature: Pineapples ripen from the base-up to the crown and are considered mature when they start to develop a "color break" which could be yellow, golden or reddish -- contrasting with the unripe green. 
• The higher the yellowing/golden color break rises-up the fruit, the higher the sugar content.
• Fresh: Smell the fruit at the base -- fresh pineapples should have a sweet aroma.  If there is no smell -- it's unripe and will not ripen.  If it smells bad and like it's fermented (vinegary) then it's overripe.
• The flesh should be firm but can give very slightly under pressure but it shouldn't be soft.  Avoid any fruits with localized soft-spots or bruising.
• The crown's leaves may be dried-out and look a little rough -- but focus on the fruit which will probably look good even if the crown doesn't.
• Ripe: Depending on when you want to eat it -- as long as there is a color-break you can take the fruit home to ripen on the counter.  One that is more green (like the center photo) will take longer, perhaps a week, compared to a fully-bronzed/golden pineapple (like the far-right photo) would probably be ready within the same day or two!
• NOT TRUE: if you can pull a leaf from the stalk then it's ripe.

Avoid the not-fresh/overripe:

• An overripe pineapple can be brown, bronze, red or even green -- don't depend on darkness alone!
• Smell is the main indicator -- an overripe pineapple will smell fermented like vinegar or alcohol.
• Soft flesh and wrinkled, loose skin indicates overripeness.
• Avoid any oozing or molting leaves from the crown!

Raw pineapple contains a living enzyme called Bromelain which aids in digestion by breaking-down proteins.  Bromelain also has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties.  Regular consumption of raw pineapple has shown to reduce indigestion AND worm-infestation!

Pineapples are also high in Vitamin C (helps make collagen which is the body's main structural protein), Vitamin A, and the B-complexes.  

Also somebody once told me that consuming pineapples makes your body odor smell good but who knows.  I guess this could be true -- but more because of the high water content keeping you hydrated and diluting your sweat than of anything to do with the pineapple.  Eh?

Have a nice day! 

p.s.

What's the difference between ripe and mature in fruit (or rebel) terms?

Ripe fruits may not be mature (usually somewhat immature)-- they will be prime for eating -- sweet with nice texture.

Mature fruits may or may no-longer be ripe -- this means the fruit has reached it's full-potential and may or may not still taste good or have a good texture. 

Generally the texture of mature fruits can be too tough or woody to enjoy or the flavor may not be desirable anymore. 

Also there is a fine line walked between fully-mature and rotten so many fruits in the store are not mature when shipped or purchased to prolong shelf life and storability.

Movie Time: The Secret Life of Plants

This documentary was filmed in 1979 after a book which shares the same title.  It proves that yes, time-lapse IS the greatest film effect of all time -- capturing and speeding-up seedlings, fungi, and flowers -- emphasizing eerily human-like movements and motives that we tend to overlook because of their seemingly-static pace.

Plus they document a bunch of really crazy-interesting experiments such as a lady teaching a cactus Japanese and recording the vibrations of a cabbage to test plant consciousness.

These reasons and more are why this movie is so visually amazing and intriguing.  And, as if a time-lapsed, Japanese-speaking cabbage wasn't enough -- the music by Stevie Wonder is equally as trippy!

11 parts?  Inconvenient? Maybe.  But very worth at least skipping-through!

Enjoy!