Tricia, I'm not questioning that you couldn't find it. I'm just expressing surprise. Believe me, Mexican and Tex Mex restaurants were few and far between in Toronto back in the 70's and 80's but there were ethnic markets where just about anything could be found.

I went back and looked at a number of Mexican cookbooks, including a few of Diane Kennedy's and cilantro was a common ingredient in many recipes.

So maybe the Chef/Owner of the restaurant I mentioned above wasn't much different than some of the chefs in the US. They just left out the cilantro, either because they couldn't find it or because it wasn't an ingredient their customers liked.

I like cilantro and I agree that it smells nice and fresh. I really don't like a lot of herbs, most of all I dislike rosemary. Same for sage and thyme, although I love the song.

I like bay leaf, dill, oregano, parsley, basil -- what can beat fresh basil, fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzerella salad. Love it.

Ann, when I first went to Vancouver in the mid 70s, there were no Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants there. Later, I think a Taco Bell opened up, but I don't consider that a Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant (It started in SoCal). I used to stay at a friend's house for several weeks in the summer, and I had trouble finding tortillas as well - all I could find were frozen ones, and for me, tortillas had always been a staple.

As for cilantro, I remember it being quite common in Austin in 1973, and I also had no trouble finding fresh herbs there at that time. Then I moved to San Francisco in 1973, and there were more fresh herbs that I could have imagined. We also shopped at a Co-op. I don't remember ever disliking it, but now I think that certain dishes require it. For me, it's essential to salsa and guacamole, and I also use it in Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai style soups, as well as stir fries.

The herbs I dislike include tarragon and rosemary. I can handle a little rosemary, but often it is too overpowering, and it reminds me of creosote. I'm not crazy about epazote either, but I did plant some to see if it will taste better when I grow it myself.

Cilantro is a winter crop for me, but I still have some doing well from last winter. However, it is now too late for me to plant more. I recently planted basil and lemongrass, and it will be interesting to see if the lemongrass will grow from seeds.

Lars

I still remember the first time I tasted fresh cilantro in a food. I thought it was wonderful and still do. It's as much a necessity in my house as butter and salt. I also love culantro and even though it tastes the same as cilantro, it lasts much longer in a dish cooked with it.

I think the main herb I don't care much for is tarragon. And a little oregano goes a long way with.

SHERMANN: Very simple I wash t dry it wrap it in paper towel and put it in a ziplock label it and when im in a pinch and dont have fresh I use it...for cooking not to put on a fresh dish or should I say garnish

I've often seen it recommended to freeze it in water. Chop it, put it in ice cube trays, add water, freeze.

I always have good intentions... but then I know I'll it'll get lost in the freezer since I don't use it all that often, and unlike parsley (which I refuse to buy 99% of the time a recipe calls for it) I use a good portion of the bunch in a single recipe. So I figure throwing out half of my $1.59 bunch won't break the bank.

I am so happy to know other people think Cilantro tastes like soap, too! Reminds me of being a kid getting my mouth washed out with soap.

Caliloo, count me as another indifferent one! I don't hate cilantro, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. I agree with Tricia's assessment about when it came into California-Mex. It was with the pico de gallo and spread.

I love flat leaf basil (basil and tomato sandwich, anyone?), which doesn't keep and is hard to find (I'm going to plant some when I redo my garden), but can take or leave the wiggly kind. Love oregano. I don't like mint leaves whole, but cut into ribbons in things they're wonderful (white albacore, mint ribbons, dried blueberries, orange bell peppers, pistachios, garlic pepper, mayonaise--YUM!).

We used to get a lot of real watercress, but it's also hard to find now. Sigh.

Cilantro? It's okay, but I grew up on Mexican food that didn't have any and I don't like it just sprinkled on for no good reason because it interferes with the traditional flavors. But I love pico de gallo in its place, cilantro and all.

OK, thanks, Eileen and FOAS. I have bunch in the fridge right now. I'll do it!

Thanks for posting this, Christine. I love when science explains how these things work.

Oh, and I'm a hater. Bigtime.

I also can't stand cilantro -- or, rather, I am a "taster." So are my husband and Thing Two, but not Thing One -- he doesn't know what we are talking about. We learned some time ago that apparently there is a chemical in cilantro that only about 20% of the population can taste at all (believed to be a genetic trait controlling ph levels); and if you can taste it, not only do you dislike it, it just doesn't taste like a food taste at all. There are things I hate more than cilantro -- I can swallow cilantro, but I have to spit liverwurst or chocolate covered fruit into my napkin -- but somehow I can see how someone else might like liverwurst or chocolate covered fruit; I cannot imagine anyone liking what I taste when I eat cilantro. It simply doesn't taste like a food. Note that in that article, it said many people say it tastes like soap.

Perhaps you remember a day in a high school science class when the teacher gave everyone a small piece of paper and asked you to taste it. A few students yelled "Ugh!" and the rest said something like, "Mine is just a plain piece of paper." The teacher said, "You all have the same thing! But only some of you can taste it." I'm not sure it's the same chemical, but it's the same idea. As the article said, there isn't much research on it -- why bother?

30 years ago, I was with a large group at a Thai restaurant in NYC. I tasted one dish and said, "Don't eat that one; something is wrong with it." It tasted like a piece of dirty kitchen sponge or something had gotten in it. One other woman said hers tasted way wrong, too; the rest said their portions were okay. So we assumed something had spilled into one end of the dish or something. Years later, I realized that there must have been cilantro in the dish, and only she and I were "tasters."

So much for the theory that one of the people in the article had about unpleasant associations from the first time a person tasted it. That may be true for people who simply don't like cilantro, but not for "tasters" -- I'd never heard of cilantro that night in NYC and didn't even realize I was eating it.

Trust me, it's not an "acquired taste" -- if you can taste that chemical, you couldn't possibly like it. It's like biting tinfoil.

The good news is that your sensitivity to the chemical can change over the years.

Gellchom, my father, who'll eat just about anything, has an aversion to cilantro like you mention. Thanks for explaining the "taster" thing. It makes so much sense!

I overheard some of the organizers talking at a food demonstration. They were saying something about why people hate cilantro that made absolutely not sense biologically. The "taster" thing makes total sense.

I am one of those who think cilantro tastes like soap. I don't care for it at all and substitute parsley when I find it in a recipe.
Lisa

I think the high-school bio class tasting papers are impregnated with a chemical that's responsible for the bitter taste in some vegetables, especially those in the brassica family, like broccoli.

I had that kind of "not food!" experience you describe, Gellchom, in a French/Cambodian restaurant. I still have no idea what ingredient it can have been. But I had shuddering flashbacks for quite a while. It was like nothing else.

For those wishing to establish cilantro in their garden...

I should have mentioned in my above post that cilantro is a tap root plant. So, you can add another thing the beast doesn't like...transplanting. IT will decide (not YOU) where it will grow & prosper so just resign yourself to having cilantro growing underneath the lilac bush, intermixed in the peoney stems, peeking a few leaves out from the middle of the Black-eyed Susans, and between the patio pavers right in front of your favorite chair forcing you to put your feet sorta off-center to avoid smooshing the cilantro. If, however, you allow it to wander around as it pleases you can count on fresh cilantro late spring & again early fall in Zones 5, 6, & 7. Of course the spring crop does you no good 'cause the tomatoes aren't ready! :) But, the spring plants will reseed for fall growth & then you can harvest away for a good six weeks.

Can you tell I have a love/hate relationship with the cilantro in my garden? lol

/tricia

My self-seeded cilantro just has the first pair of true leaves, but we've had some days well over 75 degrees. I'm hoping it can't bolt yet! Really it's a race for me to get any to eat before its leaves change to the thready kind and it all goes to seed. I'll try the afternoon-shade idea, Tricia, but all of my garden has less than true full sun; the light is more like a clearing in the woods.
I'd never think of cilantro as invasive because it's easy to pull out and it's an annual. Nothing like garlic chives, which I fought for years, or lemon balm.
I know there is slow-bolting cilantro seed, but I've never bought it. I wonder if it's really different.

Agreed, cloudy christine. Not like garlic chives. I should have said "aggressive little tyrant" rather than "invasive" especially since the word "invasive" has a technical meaning to gardeners that makes my wording confusing.

My garden is also very shady with little direct sun & being on the coast we're also cooler. I've been trying to corral it by pulling all plants except in the vicinity I'd like it to grow...the seeds blow everywhere so I've been unsuccessful. It's everywhere.

We've not hit 75 yet but it's been a very warm spring & my garden is off schedule.

/tricia

I just don't have enough time at the computer these days. Thus, I'm posting without reading all the entries, which I hate to do. However, I have to add my 2 cents worth. I just don't get it. What soapy smell or taste? If anything has a soapy taste it's arugula. I've tried and tried to taste that "peppery" taste that arugula is supposed to have, and all I get is soap. I'm so tired of all the celebrity chefs, cooking mags, and internet sites putting arugula in everything.

So, count me in as a cilantro lover and an arugula hater, and I don't hate much of anything.

Sally

Cilantro was an acquired taste for me. When I first grew it, for no particular reason I can think of, I found it disgusting to even walk past it. I had to pull it out.

A few years later, on my first visit to Mexico, I suddenly liked it. IIRC, I first enjoyed it as an ingredient in coctel de mariscos, seafood cocktail. Later, it evoked pleasant memories whenever I smelled it. That was in the mid 70s.

Jim

Like Ann T, I'm astounded that cilantro isn't available everywhere fresh, I can even buy it all the time in my little small town/independent grocery store. Go figure, I can't buy good chocolate but I can get cilantro. Perhaps it's because we are so agriculturally based and have a large hispanic migrant community, I don't know.

I do know fresh herbs were readily available here in Michigan in the 70s. I know that because I graduated from high school in 1973 and there was a Mexican restaurant in Big Rapids called Rudy's. It started as a donut shop, became a taco place, then got bigger and became Rudy's. The owner's name was....yup....Rudy. His wife did the cooking, she was a lovely lady named Rosa and they were both from Mexico.

Anyway, in talking with Rosa about their wet burritos, which I loved, and their red and green salsas, we hit on herbs. She grew many of her herbs in pots because of the short growing season here but was surprised that she could get cilantro at the Kroger store. Kroger's is gone, and I think Rudy's is too, it turned into a bar/nightclub eventually and now I think it's closed. Now cilantro is available at Meijer's and WalMart, along with many other herbs, and those are the only grocery stores in Big Rapids.

So, anyway, I can buy fresh cilantro anytime right here in White Cloud, and I could easily buy it in Big Rapids, along with many other fresh herbs, in the 70s.

As for whether cilantro is used in Mexican food, all I can say is that it was here, by a couple of Mexican immigrants in their Mexican restaurant, in the early 70s.

I still like the stuff but I'm not devastated if I don't have any and have to leave it out. (shrug) I do put cilantro into my own "famous" salsa recipe, but I tell people if they don't like it to just leave it out.

Annie

I love cilantro....and my mother brought me my first "start" of the plant from New Jersey in the spring of 1972....and the rest is history!! She called it coriander.
Even here in little ol' mid-west Iowa I have been able to buy fresh herbs for easily 30 years.
As far as cilantro in Mexican foods or Tex Mex or whatever....some do and some don't. In my experience the more recent Mexican immigrants use the most cilantro.
In the mid to late 1970's and for about 10 years, we spent a couple of weeks every year in the area of the country from (and including) Denver, south to Santa Fe. I still remember my first experience with a salsa really heavy with cilantro in some funky little dive somewhere just east of Farmington. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
And there was another restaurant ...up in the hills near Denver....think it was called "Kilgore's Trout"?.... fabulous food and very "mining camp Victorian" decoration...every table had different very elaborate Victorian centerpieces and different place settings for each table....They used cilantro heavily in the dishes I ate.
I have also found that if I replant the stuff in the spring I can get a longer season out of the stuff.
Linda c

I spent my very early years in rural Sonora, Mexico and my childhood and teen years in Tucson, Arizona. I do not remember encountering cilantro in my Mexican food (and there was lots of it!) until I was living in California in my 20s. It was either not used in an amount I noticed or it wasn't there. Since it is distinctive, I suspect it wasn't present. Go figure. Even now I don't find it used at most of the Mexican restaurants we frequent unless you ask for it. I imagine that is because it is so divisive.

I recall an incident from my mid 20s when a friend of mine who had grown up in Panama and I introduced two mutual friends to mangoes. We were so sure they would love them they way we did! They were both disgusted and said they tasted like gasoline! One friend was a girl from Iowa and the other was half Japanese/half Italian and grew up in California. They also hated cilantro - soap.

I love both flavors.

cloudy_christine, maybe it was cilantro! I'm guessing they use it in Cambodian cuisine, as it is so common in Thai and Vietnamese.

There is more than one type of cilantro; some are more bearable than others to me. But none of them tastes like something safe to eat. I'll eat salsa with a bit of cilantro in it, but if I didn't know what that flavor was, I'd swear it was tainted. Anyway, even if you like most cilantro, maybe that one got to you (or your ph level has changed since then).

But when we were in Thailand and Vietnam in January, the restaurants ALL understood immediately when you asked for no cilantro, even in English (I'd made a point of learning the word in Thai and Vietnamese before I went!), so it must be a fairly common aversion.

Incidentally, the Ihatecilantro.com page is a riot, but for some reason it's down now. Even their error page is amusing, though. For some reason, GW won't let me insert the link, so here it is: http://ihatecilantro.com/

I save mine by chopping it up and spreading a layer on a paper plate. I have to set it on a closet shelf to keep my cats from sampling. Next day I flip it with a spatula and let it dry. Depending on the humidity it is usually dry enough by the third day. From there into a small jar and onto the door of my fridge. Much better then store bought dry powder. It even looks like cilantro.

Rosemary I cut sprigs and hang them to dry.. then pick the leaves off to put in a jar. Penzey's has really nice little glass jars of all sizes.

: )
lyra

I'm from central Texas and I love cilantro but neither of my sisters-in-law likes it. One is from Jalapa, Mexico and the other is from El Paso. So go figure.

Okay, I've read through the thread now, and understand it slightly. But, my DD is a super taster, and loves, or at least likes cilantro. There are plenty of foods and flavors she hates that most people like, such as balsamic vinegar, which makes her gag, but she likes cilantro. So, as has been said earlier, go figure.

Sally

From what I understand about Super Tasters is that they have more taste buds in their tongues than the average person. They have a more heighten sense of taste. Apparently 35% of women are Super Tasters and many super tasters love cilantro. A dislike for cilantro isn't an indication. Cilantro isn't any different than any other foods. People have likes and dislikes and some of those likes and dislikes are stronger than others.

There is apparently a home test you can do if you really want to know if you are a true Super Taster.

Ann

All things being equal the taste bud test may be accurate but it's an imperfect world. People take medications that alter taste. People smoke and that alters taste. People have diseases that alter taste.

I have Sjogren's. Sjogrens alters taste tremendously. Saliva has many functions from protecting teeth, to pre-digesting food, to assisting with taste. Without it, many many foods I previously enjoyed are not only disagreeable...they are very disagreeable. So far, I've not found anything I used to dislike & now favor but, in fairness, I'm not in an adventurous phase of my life for trying out new foods.

People have aversions to various foods for all types of reasons. Many food dislikes are powerful. Green peppers fall into that category, for me. I could talk about them the way many on this thread write about their dislike for cilantro. I cannot even eat food that has been sitting in the general vicinity of another dish containing green peppers. To me, they overwhelm all else. (I refer to it as "polluting"!)

I think the point is though that Mexican food can, and is, successfully made without cilantro. Cilantro does not define Mexican cuisine. A Mexican meal does not become unauthentic due to a lack of cilantro...not even Pico de Gallo. Sorta like the cornbread debate. Both with sugar & without sugar are authentic cornbreads.

/tricia

When I first tried cilantro I did not like it at all, but when I started making more homemade salsa and experimenting with more Hispanic recipes, I slowly developed a taste for it. I love arugula and almost all greens and herbs.

I didn't like cilantro at all when I first had it, but it grew on me and now I LOVE it!! I absolutely love it. All the Mexican cuisine I've ever had uses cilantro - the salsas in the restaurants here - the REAL Mexican restaurants anyway - use fresh cilantro. To me, Tex Mex is one thing, and Mexican food is another. They're not the same thing. Anyway, the main cuisine I enjoy that uses tons of cilantro is Thai.

I grew it for the first time last year. I figured it would be nice to always have fresh on hand. But by the time it got big enough that I was going to start cutting, it went to seed like overnight. I planted a second, fall crop, and that practically went to seed as soon as it grew. I probably will be finding seedlings this year - in the lawn because I grew it in a raised bed next to the lawn! We'll see.

I love fresh herbs. I always grow sweet basil, Thai basil, lemon thyme, regular thyme, rosemary - I LOVE rosemary!!, parsley and oregano. I grew sage one year - it makes a very pretty plant when it's in flower and is almost worth growing just for an ornamental - but I don't think I ended up using any of it in cooking. I like sage in the Thanksgiving meal and that's about it. Altho I won't turn down butternut squash ravioli drowning in sage butter!!

Lisa

Ann, that's an interesting article. My old doctor told me that I was a super taster, and says that's why I don't like wine, olives, pickles, etc. Anything that's strongly sour or bitter is amplified for me.

He also told me, though, that different taste buds are located in different parts of the tongue, so some people may have more of the taste buds that taste sour or salty or bitter or whatever and some have more taste buds that taste everything, so maybe that could also explain the violent aversion that people have to some (different) foods.

Annie

Is this like being able to smell (or not) the chemical effect of asparagus on urine? ;)

"There is debate about whether all (or only some) people produce the smell, and whether all (or only some) people identify the smell. It was originally thought this was because some of the population digested asparagus differently than others, so that some people excreted odorous urine after eating asparagus, and others did not. However, in the 1980s three studies from France, China and Israel published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a universal human characteristic. The Israeli study found that from their 307 subjects all of those who could smell 'asparagus urine' could detect it in the urine of anyone who had eaten asparagus, even if the person who produced it could not detect it himself. Thus, it is now believed that most people produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but only about 22% of the population have the autosomal genes required to smell them." -Wikipedia

My sister thought for years that my brother-in-law was allergic to asparagus because he would never eat it. Then she learned that this wasn't true. He just hates the pee smell. I thought this was hysterical!

"Cilantro does not define Mexican cuisine."

I agree, but anytime cilantro is added makes it "especial" to me. The first time I tasted cilantro was in pico de gallo (which i put on top of nearly everything Mexican) and once I learned what gave it the flavor I loved, I sought it out. I am the only one in the family who will eat it, but that isn't a big deal, since I like the flavor best when it is not cooked anyway. Just toss it on top of my serving and mix it in.

I have come to dislike asparagus....

Hmm, reminds me of the perfume people looking for people who have the "nose".

I'd love to take the test and I would also love to see if the super taster has anything to do with the love/hate of the amount of heat, as in spicey, in foods.

Never paid much attention to the asparagus "after affects" but you can bet that large doses of Vit B have them!

I like it too. Funny thing is...I have several friends who claim to not like it but love Annie's salsa. LOL I've never told them there was cilantro in it. Granted, not much but it is in there.

David

I guess my name says it all. :)

Anyway, I've loved the stuff since I first tasted it. November 1987. What was this wonderful, mysterious new-to-me flavor in the pico de gallo served at one of the original One the Border restaurants in San Antonio?

As soon as I identified that little green leaf--which took a while, it's been an important part of my cooking style.

But I use it with a light hand--a few sprigs & stems and usually no where near the am't called for in a lot of recipes.

I try to keep fresh on hand. Trim the stem ends & stand it upright in a jar of water, covered loosely w/ a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Also, normally, I have some in the freezer stored in a ziploc. Remove the frozen bundle & slice off what I need w/ my cleaver.

Tried drying it once & results were just about flavorless. When I'm completely out of cilantro, in a pinch, I'll crush some coriander seeds but the flavor is different. More on the lemony side but still nice.

Also, I don't much care for sage. A tiny bit is OK in some things--like breakfast sausage. Same thing w/ rosemary & cumin. And, although I love basil, I don't like pesto--least wise, I haven't tasted a pesto yet that I like.

Now, another herb that I do love is tarragon. Unfortunately, no one else in the family likes it much.

Only recently did I discover that there were cilantro haters. Had I known it was such a devisive thing, I prolly woulda' chosen a different screen name!

Donna I agree with you. Cilantro might not be the only ingredient that defines Mexican, but it is certainly one of them. Each to their own though.

Annie, you might be a super taster but the fact that you don't like wine probably isn't an indication. Being a super taster is an asset if you are a wine connoisseur.

David, I wouldn't tell them either. What they don't know won't hurt them. LOL!

Ann

Love it! Add it to Tex mex, or asian fare, use it like lettuce on a sandwich or put a handfull in a green salad!

I don't NEED it is Mexican food, but I cannot think of any Mexican food it wont improve.

I am delighted to find it has self sown all over my garden this spring.

Well, it's a good thing my grocery store is used to me because they added one more thing to me coming through squeezing, pinching, weighing, poking and sniffing stuff. I went over to the cilantro and sniffed it real good and then pinched off a leaf, ate it and almost gagged. It was nasty!

That being said though, there are a lot of things out there that are not very tasty raw, but can be quite good cooked and combined with other ingredients.

But I don't think I would want raw cilantro on any sandwich or in a salad, and I can see where you would think something was spoiled if they used to much of it. It goes way past being just unpleasant. So all of you who love it can have my portion.

Add me to the list that loves cilantro. When I press the leaves between my fingers to smell it (which I have done when I don't have my readers on & it's next to the flat-leaf parsley) I smell fresh lime/lemon. To me, it adds that flavor, plus something else good & light tasting that I can't explain.

It's a hit-or-miss item in my local grocery stores here in NH. I tried growing it in my herb garden with paltry results. My sister's attempt - just a couple miles down the road - was far better. Will try again this year.

So, last night I was served tacos with a hand chopped pico de gallo as an accompaniment. With large pieces of cilantro. Before I took any spices, etc., I picked out some leaves (it was casual company, who already think I'm weird) and taste tested them.

No soap. OTOH, I don't use soapy soaps, so might not know really what that soapy smell is supposed to smell like.

It was more like Gellchom's biting into foil, though not as unpleasant as that sounds.

I'm in the same place as before. Wouldn't go out of my way for it, but wouldn't pick it out of things. Except when they dump a whole handful on top--I always scrape it off them.

Weird stuff, cilantro.

Another growing tip...

I know many people have potted herb gardens. Cilantro is NOT a candidate for a pot, plastic or clay. The soil warms way too quickly. It will bolt by the time you've got the potting soil bag back in the shed!

Plant it in the ground where the root zone is shaded by other plants.

/tricia

Maybe the author of the article will write one on why Cumin smells like B.O. and is so popular. I honestly can't get by the smell. YUCK I have probably had it in foods and not noticed it but the one time I tried to cook with it I didn't like the food. Not sure if it was something else or the cumin but I just don't want to go there again.
Not sure about cilantro as I haven't bought it to use myself, I suppose I've eaten it in something.
FYI - I heard Ina Garten say on her show one time that she thought it tasted like soap.

I like cilantro but have no problem if I have none and have to omit it from a recipe. I can taste a faint "soapy" flavor, but I like it!

Love basil and tarragon, too. Rosemary is one of those that I like only in certain things. And mint only in sweet dishes. I don't care for it in savory things.

Parsley, to me is just for garnish. I don't care for a lot of it in a dish.

Linda

The only time I found it soapy tasting was in an egg dish I had at breakfast in Colombia. I have had it (I would imagine) at restaurants and never noticed it. Although I'm just assuming I have had it. I never buy it. And I always notice the urine smell when I eat asparagus. Just the way it is, I guess.

Ann, when the doc decided I was a super taster he first asked me if I liked sour pickles, green olives, black coffee or dry wine. When I said I didn't he had something that he swabbed on my tongue (which tasted awful, incidentally) and he said that it was very common for people with "extra" taste buds to dislike sour or bitter foods. He also said it was pretty common, that one person out of three or four were "super tasters" and that they all liked or disliked different foods, but that most didn't like those particular foods.

I didn't think to ask if different people could have more of just a specific type of taste bud, or if it was all just more in general.

And it all came about because I said I wouldn't eat at Subway because all the vegetables tasted like metal and a dill pickle that's really sour is actually slightly painful for me to eat.

Annie

I feel this way about raw onions. I don't find anything pleasant about them and they smell like garbage to me. Cooked onions are fine.

plllog: It's not just any old soap; to me it smells like brown laundry soap, like Fels Naptha.

I hate the stuff!

Nancy

Naptha? Isn't that kerosene? Yuck! Oh, right. Aldehydes. I guess that goes. Some O-Chem hydrocarbon petroleum thing. (shudder)

I use 7th Generation Free & Clear. It doesn't smell like much of anything. And glycerine handsoaps with flower scents (rose or cucumber). (Method green tea + aloe pump is foul (much too much tea) but the color looks good with my powder room sink top and the guests don't seem to mind.)

MaryS, thanks for bringing up the cumin thing! It's fine in a complex curry, but it tastes like dirt to me on it's own, and I can't eat samosas, and things like that, that are heavy on cumin. Or taco meat without the rest of the taco (tomatoes help).

On the other hand, I love turmeric. It's been decades since I did this, if I had a soup that just wouldn't come together, I'd dump some turmeric into it. I called it my yummifing agent. Which probably makes up for the cumin in the curry. :)

Hey! Speaking of tea, I wonder if this all that we're talking about is also why some people think green tea ice cream is a good idea? I don't even like the smell on my hands from the soap, and think green tea ice cream is an insult to Flossie. Though back when I did caffeine, I didn't mind drinking green tea as tea.