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Ingredient

cilantro

Also known as: fresh cilantro

The fresh leaves of the coriander plant, with a bright, citrusy flavor -- though a genetic quirk makes some people taste soap instead. It's used raw as a garnish or stirred in at the very end of cooking, since heat quickly dulls both its color and aroma.

Buying guidance

Look for perky, vividly green leaves with crisp, not slimy or blackened, stems; a bunch that's already wilting won't perk back up. Buy close to when you'll use it -- it's one of the more perishable fresh herbs.

Substitutions

  • Flat-leaf parsley -- similar fresh green color and crunch, but a milder, grassier flavor with none of cilantro's citrus note.
  • Omit -- for anyone who tastes soap, no substitute will fix that; leaving it out is usually better than forcing a swap.

Tips & common mistakes

Added early to a hot, long-cooked dish, it fades to a dull, flat flavor and a washed-out color, since its aromatic oils are volatile and cook off quickly compared to heartier herbs -- stir it in at the very end instead. Chopped too far ahead of time, it blackens and wilts faster than most herbs because the leaves and stems bruise easily.

Storage

The stems hold up noticeably better than the leaves, so a bunch with a few blackened leaf tips can be trimmed and kept going rather than thrown out whole. Standing the stems in a jar of water in the refrigerator, loosely covered with a bag, keeps it fresher longer than wrapping the whole bunch in a paper towel.

Used in 16 recipes