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Gary350
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Cilantro

I bought a bundle of 67¢ cilantro at the grocery store we ate it on tacos last night and sandwich today. Is there a way to save cilantro by making cilantro sauce or cilantro pesto or something else? Dry cilantro seems to loose 98% of its flavor. Can cilantro be frozen.?
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pepperhead212
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Way back, when cilantro was not available everywhere, and year-round here, like it is now, I did what I did with my basils - I ground it up in the food processor with just enough neutral oil to make it into a paste, then I'd freeze it in popsicle molds - easy to get out that way. It kept its flavor, but the problem is that most things cilantro goes into are cold, so I had to wait for it to thaw.

Here's a thing that I frequently make - sort of a Mexican pesto, from Rick Bayless. The one in his book is slightly different - calls for large bunches of herbs, and twice the oil, and the amount of salt is 2 generous tsp, which is probably why he said in the book that it lasts several months (though I always use it in a month or so). I always used about twice the cilantro, compared to the parsley.
https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/cila ... urripesto/

imafan26
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Frozen cilantro is fine if you only use it for flavoring or as a paste like pesto. It does not look very good thawed and it is mushy. If you get cilantro with roots attached, you can keep it fresh longer in a cup of water with a bag over the top in the frig a little longer. During the cooler months of the year, cilantro will keep in the garden almost six months. I just snip what I need. It will grow fairly well in containers as well and does not need a lot of light so you might be able to keep some as an indoor plant. In the heat of summer, cilantro bolts. If you have a good spot for it though, it reseeds like a weed.

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applestar
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I feel like saying @Gary350 should probably try sowing cilantro seeds in the garden now. They were one of first to sprout very early in spring, and for a while they came back every year. I seem to have managed to “weed them out” by killing the emerging seedlings and not allowing enough to mature and drop seeds.

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Gary350
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applestar wrote:I feel like saying @Gary350 should probably try sowing cilantro seeds in the garden now. They were one of first to sprout very early in spring, and for a while they came back every year. I seem to have managed to “weed them out” by killing the emerging seedlings and not allowing enough to mature and drop seeds.
That is a very good idea. I never know where to plant things that come back year after year they are always in the way when it is time to plant, tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, potatoes, etc. I have a bag full of cilantro seeds I grew 2 years ago. Yesterday I decided garden needs to be laid out with row marker stakes but that is hard to do I move things around every year never plant the same thing in the same place. Anything in a permanent location is always in the way of the tiller. I always need to do a fast 1" deep till to kill chick weed and other plants that grew all winter. Then I do 1 more quick till 1" deep to make sure plants are dead. This year I need to do a deep till to help all the compose material in the soil to get oxygen ph is still high 8 ph. Nov soil test show 8 ph in the west 1/2 of the garden, 7.5 ph in 1/4 the garden & 7 ph in the other 1/4. I put sulfur & urea on the 8 ph soil it needs testing again March 1st. Too much rain to till until about April 15 or 20. I am going to plant a 40 ft row of herbs this year I want to test several varieties of each to learn which grows best and which flavor is best maybe cilantro can grow in the herb row if I can decide where the herb row is going to be.

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Gary350
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Which herbs will return a 2nd year?

I know cilantro & basil will die. My father had a sage plant returned for 20 years he lived in Central Illinois.

pepperhead212
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Parsley will come back, but only to bolt and set seed immediately. Tarragon, sage, mint, oregano, thyme, and chives are plants I grow that come back, and rosemary is an evergreen, in warm enough weather. Epazote is one that I grow that is an annual, but re-seeds every year - probably others, too.

Vanisle_BC
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Gary350 wrote:Which herbs will return a 2nd year?
Some annual herbs, although they die at end of summer, will self-seed and effectively 'come back' in spring. In my own garden Cilantro/coriander, Dill and Parsley behave this way; sometimes more profusely than I want. Evidently freezing temps are not killing the seed (at least in this coastal climate) so I could plant it in late fall wherever I want, rather than leave it to nature.

imafan26
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I have planted cilantro as well. Most of them are in pots. I can keep planting till about April or May. After that, they will bolt too quickly to make it worthwhile. I haven't found a really good way to preserve the freshness of cilantro in the summer.

Vanisle_BC
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imafan26 wrote:I have planted cilantro as well. Most of them are in pots. I can keep planting till about April or May. After that, they will bolt too quickly to make it worthwhile. I haven't found a really good way to preserve the freshness of cilantro in the summer.
If, like me, you dislike the taste of cilantro but love coriander, bolting is exactly whet you want! And isn't it odd that foliage and seed have such different flavours?



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