- 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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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/
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/
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.
- 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.
- Gary350
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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.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.
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- Greener Thumb
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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.Gary350 wrote:Which herbs will return a 2nd year?
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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?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.