What Is Coriander And How Do You Cook With It?
If you take a trip down the spice aisle of any grocery store, you're likely to encounter quite a number of ingredients that seem daunting to new chefs (and sometimes even experienced ones). This is especially true in the modern age when ingredients that once required specialty stores to locate in America — Sichuan peppercorns, sumac, fenugreek, etc. — can now be found pretty much everywhere. But there's one ingredient with a name that may seem strange if you've never cooked with it, but that is actually quite common and easy to work with, and that's coriander (Coriandrum sativum).
Though the name may sound strange, chances are you've probably eaten coriander before, whether in a restaurant or just at someone else's house; it's not a new spice, nor is it a particularly exotic one considering its widespread culinary prevalence. You're also likely a lot more familiar with a product that comes from the same plant, but which has a much more broadly-known reputation – cilantro.
What is coriander?
One of the more interesting things about coriander is just how many cultures have it as a major part of their cuisine. Part of the Apiaceae family (the same one that includes celery, carrots, fennel, and parsley, among others), it's originally native to southern Europe (possibly Portugal), but it certainly didn't stop there. The plant itself spread to North Africa and all the way to Southeast Asia and was later introduced to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors, where it's now a huge part of Latin American cuisine. It's thus one of the few spices with a prominent role in a huge number of geographically disparate cuisines.
Thus, the answer to the question of where it's found naturally is ... well, pretty much everywhere. Coriander grows wild so quickly and so broadly that it can often be difficult for scientists to tell where it's a native plant and where it only recently established itself. It's one of the few plants that grow well both in the sun and in shade and is something people can easily grow at home.
Before coriander is ground up, it typically looks like small, light brown pellets, almost like very tiny walnuts. After being ground, the color actually deepens, looking remarkably similar to cumin (meaning you probably want to make sure both are labeled, so you don't mix them up).
Coriander vs. cilantro
So, wait, are coriander and cilantro the same thing? In a technical sense, yes: it's the same plant (Coriandrum sativum) under different names. But in common culinary parlance, what chefs in the U.S. mean when they say "cilantro" and "coriander" refer to entirely different things. "Coriander" typically means the ground-up seeds of the plant, while cilantro refers to its fresh (or dried) leaves. This is actually different from many other countries, where "coriander" refers to the leaves, while the ground stuff is called "coriander seeds" — this is the reason it's also sometimes labeled "ground coriander," just to make things even a bit more confusing.
Though the two come from the same plant, they have dramatically different uses in cooking. Cilantro's herbaceous flavor and aroma make it a great addition to things like salsas, dressings, and marinades — basically, anywhere it can be given a chance to shine. By contrast, coriander is typically a part of spice blends and dry rubs, because while it mixes well with other flavors, it's not really something you want to see standing on its own.
What does coriander taste like?
Coriander's taste, meanwhile, is unmistakable once you know what to look for. The best word to describe the taste of coriander is "floral"; its fragrance is the reason it has historically had uses not just in cooking, but in perfumes, too. The second word that comes to mind is "lemony," because coriander has a slight citrus flavor that makes it blend very well with other spices. Combine the two, and you have a spice with a very light flavor that can go with pretty much anything if used in the right amounts. It's not like cumin or cayenne; you'd have to use a significant amount of coriander to overpower a dish with it.
That being said, while coriander has a delightful, light flavor to most people, it might taste like soap to you. You might already know this part: a small number of people possess a variance in their olfactory receptor genes that make everything from the Coriandrum sativum plant taste kind of like dish soap. Granted, this genetic abnormality is rare, so a lot of people who claim it tastes like soap might just not like the stuff.
How to cook with coriander
There's a reason the Coriandrum sativum plant appears in so many cuisines aside from its ability to grow everywhere: it goes well in pretty much anything. Though this is true of cilantro leaves, and other parts of the plant have their regional uses (coriander roots have a prominent role in Thai cooking, for example), ground coriander is particularly noteworthy for being one of nature's culinary chameleons. Want to brighten a dish and juice its aroma, but don't want to add the potent acidity of lemon juice? The answer is usually coriander.
Because it has such a light flavor that blends well with other spices, it shouldn't be utilized on its own, but from there, the uses are seemingly endless. It's a great component in spice rubs as a counterpoint to a heavier flavor like cumin (with which it often gets paired), but it's equally okay to use in soups, marinades, sauces, curries, and even baked goods. In addition to what it does for savory dishes, its light flavor makes it a surprisingly solid choice for sweeter foods, and like cardamom and cinnamon, it's an extremely good spice to amplify desserts. Far more so than cilantro, coriander is incredibly versatile.
Where to buy coriander
The good news is, if you want to learn to cook with coriander — and you should, because it's great — it's not going to be difficult for you to locate it. Pretty much any major grocery store in America should have it in the spice aisle. There may have once been a time when it was harder to find in the United States, but thanks to the interconnected nature of global economics, that time has long since passed. If for whatever reason you can't find it in your local grocery store, it's also readily available in bulk for affordable prices at online retailers like Amazon.
Though late March to early September is the prime growing season for coriander, it can (depending on climate, because it doesn't fare well under extreme heat) actually be grown year-round. Thus, there's no particularly good season for coriander, and since it's not typically a fresh ingredient anyway, you're not really going to notice a huge variance in quality depending on when you buy it.
Other varieties of coriander
There are a lot of different local subspecies of the Coriandrum sativum plant, but for culinary purposes, you're really only going to be thinking about two of them. Coriandrum sativum vulgare is the type most commonly found in cuisines from Morocco to India and tends to have large seeds and a milder flavor. Coriandrum sativum microcarpum, meanwhile, is the type that usually appears in European food, and by nature, it has smaller seeds that pack a little bit more of a punch. Even then, though, it's a mild punch compared to a lot of ground spices.
The most important takeaway from cooking with coriander is that it's a great beginner spice because it's difficult to mess up how you use it. If you use too much cayenne, you can render food inedible, but you'd have to dump a huge amount of coriander into something to attain the same effect. If you want to try broadening your spice horizons without risking culinary disaster, there are few better choices than ground coriander.