I'd just leave it out. I'm sure it will be good, just not the recipe.

Watercress?

Hi,

We cannot eat cilantro either. Depending upon the recipe I substitute with either parsley and/or mint. I would use parsley in the recipe you describe.

MJ

Fresh basil. My DH doesn't like cilantro either.

Parsley is the most common substitution. It lacks the citrusy zip in cilantro, especially the stems. I've grown par-cel for years but not found in stores. It has a celery freshness. I mighty try the inner pale leaves in the core of celery if you stock it. Put it in a small bowl with lemon or lime juice and some zest. Set aside while prepping the rest of the dish.

Whenever I make salsa and sauces that use cilantro, I pour off a cup for mother/daughter friends of mine, before I add the cilantro. Years ago I gave them choices, various herbs, basil, thyme, par-cel, summer savory, mint, etc. on the side. They love everything, try anything. Just can't do cilantro. They put just about all of it in and loved it....so that's not much help, lol.

I do stock lime and lemon peel powder from MountainRoseHerb. Fresh citrus can be silly expensive. The tiniest bit packet a zippy punch. Excellent salt replacement. I use in my spice blends. Never use salt in blends.

I don't like cilantro either and I just omit it. I haven't found that leaving it out makes a big difference in any recipe, except to exclude that soapy, perfumey flavor that I find offensive :-) If I need to add something green, I just add parsley.

For those missing the cilantro gene, certain things - like salsa - are actually edible without it :-)

I'd just leave it out.

Definitely edible...just lacking something when the gene is there. :-)

Well, lacking the taste of soap to those of us who have that gene. The only thing I make that does need cilantro anyway is felafel. Those never taste quite right without it, but wherever cilantro is a top note I sub parsley (sometimes with lemon) or let it go.

For that Asian marinade, I might add thinly sliced green onion tops, or would just leave out the cilantro and not worry about it.

What I do, recipe depending, is make the dish up without cilantro, no subs. But if it really better with cilantro (for those of us who like it) is chop up a side of cilantro and place near the dish in question. Those who like can take some. Those who don't will ignore it.

artemis, that makes good sense. I guess things could get pretty boring without diversity in our food preferences.

FWIW, a lot of Caribbean recipes call for substituting cilantro if you can't find culantro, so maybe it would work in reverse, too.

I'm sure it is all a very personal taste bud issue :-) I just really do not care for the taste of cilantro and can detect it pretty easily and that makes whatever it is included in more or less inedible for me. I also do not care for the smell or taste of fresh basil but not nearly to the same degree as cilantro.....I can eat things flavored with pesto but I'd much prefer a parsley pesto :-)

Same with tarragon....some fresh green herbs just have far too strong a flavor for me to be happy with.

"Same with tarragon....some fresh green herbs just have far too strong a flavor for me to be happy with."

I do agree regarding tarragon. A hint in certain dishes can work for me, but too much of that anise flavor can truly be inedible.

Maybe Shiso? Kind of a basil/citrus flavor. And used in Asian cuisine.

Celery leaves! I've had good success with that substitution.

soap? ^_^

another vote for parsley

I also use parsley as a substitute, as cilantro is not always available here and I do have a couple of family members (looking at you, MOM), that don't care for it. I've used chives, depending on the recipe, but that's a different flavor altogether, so something that adds something else to the dish that isn't close to cilantro, if that makes sense.

Gardengal, you are the first person I've ever heard say that they didn't really care for basil pesto, other than me. It's just too.....much....if that makes sense. I do use much smaller amounts of basil in other things, so I don't dislike basil itself, I just don't want a lot of it.

Tarragon? Yes, a little bit is enough.

Annie

Parsley is a bit boring as a substitute, and I would use Thai basil instead. It's a very different flavor but is common in Thai recipes, and I use it frequently, although I do happen to like cilantro very much and grow that as well.

OTOH, I really do not like anything that has tarragon in it, and I used to grow it thinking I would like it, but instead I hated it and pulled it out. I also grow rosemary (mainly as a mosquito repellent), but I like that only in tiny amounts.

I hate cilantro, but I really like coriander. I'd sub ground coriander. It has the fragrant orange-spiciness of cilantro without any of the soapiness.

And I love tarragon. It reminds me of sweet clover.

Coriander is a good idea - it is the seeds from cilantro, and so it is related.

Another sub I thought of is fresh fennel, but I really do not like that either, although your DH might.

gardengal, I totally agree (I am one of those who has the hate it gene)!

For those missing the cilantro gene, certain things - like salsa - are actually edible without it

soap? ^_^

Yeah, soap. If you have the anti-cilantro gene it tastes like soap. They say it's more common in people with northern European somewhere in their backgrounds, but to those of us who have it, cilantro tastes like soap, which is why we don't like it.

Love cilantro and tarragon. Basil, not so much and really dislike basil pesto.

Thinking along with what Carol said--try substituting freshly ground coriander seeds. If you plant coriander, it grows into cilantro but the flavor of coriander is much more subtle.

Annie, I can always find fresh cilantro at both Aldi and Wal-Mart. You can freeze a bunch and snip off what you need for a recipe. Freezing causes it to lose some of it's punch but still much better than having no cilantro. I also will substitute the coriander if I am all out of cilantro...not as good but better than nuttin'.

I took the 23&me test, and it told me that I am 99% Northwest European, and I love cilantro and do not get the "soap" taste at all from it, but I can imagine that if it does taste like soap that you would hate it. However, I have never eaten any soap and so I'm not sure that I know what that tastes like.

Another herb that I'm not particularly fond of is epazote. It is supposed to be an essential ingredient in a lot of Mexican dishes (especially beans), but I have grown it and used it, and it just tastes like gasoline/kerosene to me (neither of which I have eaten), at least from the fragrance. I think I might be able to handle it in extremely small doses, but when I grew it, it went all over the place and became something of a weed, and so I am a bit reluctant to plant it again. Anyway, I would have to order the seeds, as I have not seen them here, although I do see the herb in the markets.

I love cilantro too and when I first started using it I got the soapy taste but I don't get that anymore the more I use it (which is a lot).

My favorite herb is tarragon - I have a big pot outside my front door because I love how it smells.

I cannot think of an herb or spice that I have tasted that I dislike (well maybe culantro but because of the spiky leaves not the taste).

Probably strange, but, as much as I love cilantro, I do understand the "soap" issue. Guess my pro-cilantro genes are pretty dominant. Like lots of herbs, it's easy to grow year round here in SoCal.

My favorite fresh herbs to use are rosemary, thyme, chives and parsley. And I grow them all :-) I also have a tub of mint but don't use that as often. I like fresh oregano as well, but like mint, it wants to take over the garden and I use it sparingly, so dried works fine.

Since I don't care for them I don't bother growing either cilantro or basil. And have never missed them in any recipe :-)

Lars: However, I have never eaten any soap and so I'm not sure that I know what that tastes like.

~~~~

LIAR!!! ;-)

I am NW Euro/English (both sides, shot through, like forever) and although I initially thought SOAP! or BUG! when first tasting cilantro, the rest of the Mexican food was fantastic. Then I discovered Vietnamese and Thai food. I love love love cilantro. Don’t test it by trying just the leaf or stem on its own.

Cilantro wants to go with fresh lime juice, a bit of sugar, (garlic) and either fish sauce, or something with substantial umami. I also love fresh spearmint and almost cannot grown enough of it. (I wish I could get it to grow indoors! Anyone?)

Coriander is better than nothing, but parsley is a poor substitute. Fresh spearmint (a bit), lime zest, chives, scallion might help. It truly adds a huge component.

I like fresh tarragon, but it tastes a lot like LePage’s glue. (Lars, want to know how I know what that glue tastes like?!)

I find it interesting that the Mexican dish, ceviche, has a Thai ( or Vietnamese) counterpart, Yom Talay seafood salad. (“Tom Delay”). Assorted shell fish and fish, barely cooked; birdseye chilies (ground), garlic, fresh lime juice, fish sauce (Nam pla), bit of palm surgar. Some fresh tender celery hearts with leaves, and, you betcha, fresh cilantro leaves and stems. Serve atop fresh buttercrunch lettuce. For less heat, remove the seeds of the small bird chilies. Ahhh! I can never get enough of this dish.

I just skip it

Cilantro adds the flavor of Cilantro, to state the obvious. There isn't anything that duplicates that flavor. I would leave it out, but then again, I can't stand cilantro. Even the littlest snips of it are highly detectable to me.