Culantro

Now, I'm having a hard time figuring this out............. does Mexican corander (Eryngium foetidum) grow indefinitely or does it die once it's flowered. When I cut out the flower, how long will it be before that needs to be done again? Once I begin to cut out the bottom leaves, how tall will it get eventually? It's an interresting plant but it's hard to get answers on it.

Thanks.

Cilantro grows 3-4' tall when it finally goes to seed.
I planted a 10' row and harvested as much as I could for our restaurant and personal use, but allowed it to create seed heads. It took several weeks for the seeds to become harvestable. If they won't fall of when you shake the stem, they probably are not ready to be harvested.

I have a huge baggie full of seeds. Planted some for a fall/winter garden - worked great! Plus, the wind blown volunteers are all over the garden and doing well, too. Even our near freeze did not stop them - still harvesting. We cut the bunches off with clean kitchen shears a coyple of inches from the ground to allow the plant to keep producing.

What else can I tell you?

The seeds of the cilantro plant are what is known as coriander. This spice can also be used in cooking and baking.

Bubba - My greenhouse manager, who's from Canutillo, TX, wants to know what you're favorite recipe using culantro is. For my part, I'm all set. From the height you said it'll reach, I'd better put them in bigger pots!

g_m - Yeah, last night I was making some lamb sausage and put both the cilantro and coriander in. Ground the meat a little too finely but, otherwise, they were great!

Thanks you two,

Karl

Cilantro and Culantro aren't the same plant, right? I think the responses so far have been regarding Cilantro, and Karl was asking about Culantro.

I don't like the flavor of either one, so I can't help with cultivation info, but I can post the PF links! :-)

Culantro: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/94023/index.html

Cilantro: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54/index.html

DW and I prefer the peppery bite of cilantro to parsley, however we use both.
At the restaurant we use a couple of bunches when we make our chili (5 gal).

I like a few leaves in my salad. And always chop some for tacos. We don't make hard tacos, prefer the soft, so fry the corn tortillas just a little while - let them puff - then pull them out and allow to drain on a papertowel covered plate.

Stuff with ground bison that has been slow cooked with onion, garlic, cumin, Es Bueno (spice we sell at the restaurant), chopped parsley & cilantro, and a chopped jalapeno or some crushed chili piqueno.

Then top with fresh salad - chopped tomato, chopped onion, lettuce, fresh jalapeno strips, and shreaded cheese mix.

Now see what you did? I'm hungry and I just ate a late lunch.

Critterologist, you are correct. I'm sorry, I should have checked the plant files first.

Now I need to plant some of that this year, too.

Thanks critter. My apologies Buckthorne. Guess I should wear my eyeglasses more often.
I've only grown the coriandrum sativum variety. Sounds like the two plants could be used interchangeably for most savoury culinary dishes. I'll need to check the pharmacology of Eryngium foetidum to see if it has similar medicinal properties.

what restaurant, bubba?

Vossner, after all this time!
Thought by now all the Houston area DG'ers had found us.
Bubba's Texas Burger Shack on Westpark.
The same place that was on "The Hungry Detective" the last week of November.
I've been getting quite an out-of-city crowd for my Sunday Breakfast - that is usually the only day I'm in the kitchen there.

If you like cilantro and culantro, you might also try papalo. It tastes like cilantro with other complex flavors. The plant I grew in '05 tasted to me like cilantro with a touch of muscadine grape - very intriguing. I'm growing several plants this year.

It's an attractive plant with blue-green leaves. AND it thrives in heat that wilts cilantro.

Yeah, I was getting at Erygium foetidum; not the Coriandrum. So, I guess my original questions still stand.

I'll definitely try the papalo. My boss, who I grow the culantro for, loves herbs for her salads and that one might just be a hit too. Thanks for the tip, johnson.

Thanks for the clarity, critter. Just another lesson in the importance of proper taxonomy.

You're welcome. Papalo is available from Pinetree, among others; it's listed as "papaloquelite".

Bobby

It looks like one plant (papalo) puts out a lot af herb. That's nice. I find cilantro to be so infuriating in that respect. Too bad I like it so much

Bubba, I will come by and say hi to ya.

OMG Bubba! I live in Richmond, but on the ocassions that I drive by that area, hubby and I have always wondered at how crowded that spot it. You know, that the meter for measuring a good eating place, lol. I will definitely stop by next time I'm in that neck of the woods.

Thanks for the kind words, vossner.

Don't grow that papalo instead of growing cilantro until you've tasted the papalo... I dislike cilantro, but bluekat & I picked up a papalo plant a couple of summers back, and it was hands down the worst plant I've ever tasted, bitter and soapy. Now, taste is extremely subjective, and you might adore papalo's flavor... but I'm just saying, grow some cilantro or some culantro also. :-)

You're right Critter, taste is very subjective.

When I was in college, one our zoology lab experiments consisted of blind tasting of various extracts of different foods. They had isolated certain flavors on tissues, and we would put a swatch on our tongues and write down our reactions. I could taste strawberry, etc., on different papers, and some I couldn't taste at all.

Things were going along fine until the professor gave me one particular swatch and I placed it on my tongue, immediately began gagging, and ran out of the lab to the water fountain to wash out my mouth. When I returned to the lab dripping wet, the professor smiled sweetly at me and said, "You don't like dill, do you?". She was right! I had always hated dill, and people thought I was strange.

If you lack a taste bud for a particular chemical in dill, you may or may not like the herb; but if like me, you possess a taste bud for that vile chemical, there's no way on earth you can eat a dill pickle.

I like cilantro, papalo, etc., because I lack a taste bud for certain qualities in these herbs that others can't stand. The "soapy" taste bud of a former roommate of mine meant that I always had to make two batches of salsa - one with and one without cilantro.

One of the fun things about gardening is that we get to try so many different things that I ordinarily wouldn't have access to. So when you come to visit me, Critter, I'll be making two batches of salsa again ;-).

ROFL johnson! You and my DH must be related. He hates dill and anything with dill in it. I love dill! So I now save it in a separate bowl to use as a table condiment when I'm making recipes that use it, like dilled mushroon barley soup, or cucumbers in yoghurt-dill-mint sauce etc.

Yeah, and I live in salmon country, where so many chefs ruin a perfectly good fillet by putting a sprig of dill on it...

So you probably don't like the herb bread at Olympia's Urban Onion cafe either.

No, it's just not for me. There are certain ketchups that contain it over my threshold, too.

So you're familiar with Oly, eh?

Olympia is on the Sound. Where there is water, there are mermaids.