Are you a cilantro lover or hater? Check out this cilantro loving strategy!
2013
I have a great tip that could transform you from a cilantro hater to a lover. Some people pride themselves on their hate of cilantro. But really cilantro has some unique health promoting benefits, like reducing anxiety, enabling better sleep, balancing blood sugar levels and it’s most known benefit: heavy metal detoxing. So many people miss out on the great benefits but I have discovered a simple tip, that converts its chemical make-up to actually change its flavor. Perhaps this could turn even the most hard core cilantro hater into a lover!
Heavy Metal Detoxifier
Cilantro is remarkable in its ability to remove mercury, aluminum and other toxic metals from the fat tissues in the body, where they are commonly stored. Cilantro helps to rapidly mobilize mercury and toxic metals from the brain and central nervous system by separating them from the fat tissue and moving them into the blood & lymph, where they can be removed safely and effectively from the body.
Basic Flavor Chemistry
The flavor of cilantro has been discovered by flavor chemists to be composed of a half dozen or so substances. Most are fragments of fat molecules that are called aldehydes. A couple of the aldehydres found in cilantro are also found in some soaps and lotions. So there is something to it when some people associate a slight soapy taste with cilantro. Compound this with not eating it and so not having a pattern recognition for the taste (see my last post on acquired tastes) then cilantro is a taste that you may at first want to spit out.
The good news is that once you learn to love cilantro, its unpleasant aldehydes will be lessened. You will notice instead all of the wonderful good-tasting and fresh flavor notes that cilantro has to offer. In addition you will gain from all of the many health benefits that cilantro has to offer.
A Brilliant Tip to Help you Love Cilantro
Crushing cilantro leaves allows enzymes in the leaves to convert the aldehydes, which give cilantro its taste, into other substances with no aroma.
This is awesome. So, to get used to and start loving cilantro, use it in a recipe where the leaves are crushed or processed. Try making a cilantro pesto next time instead of basil pesto (just substitute cilantro for basil). Many find pesto made from cilantro to be surprisingly mild and delicious.
I am including a recipe in this week’s newsletter for a green hot sauce that I love, which has cilantro in it, and lots, but doesn’t taste like cilantro at all. It also has green pepper, green apple, lime, garlic and more deliciousness. Make sure you check for it there! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can get it here, along with my new 20 Favorite Raw Recipes e-book!
Chat with me. What do you think?
Do you love it or hate it?
What’s your favorite way to eat cilantro?
