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For other uses, see Coriander (disambiguation).
"Cilantro" redirects here. It is not to be confused with the related herb Eryngium foetidum, also known as "culantro" or "Mexican coriander".
"Chinese parsley" redirects here. Chinese parsley may also refer to the unrelated herb Heliotropium curassavicum.
Coriander or cilantro
Coriandrum sativum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-193.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Coriandrum
Species: C. sativum
Binomial name
Coriandrum sativum
Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 95 kJ (23 kcal)
3.67 g
Sugars 0.87
Dietary fiber 2.8 g
0.52 g
2.13 g
Vitamin A equiv.
337 μg
3930 μg
865 μg
Thiamine (B1)
0.067 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
0.162 mg
Niacin (B3)
1.114 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
0.57 mg
Vitamin B6
0.149 mg
Folate (B9)
62 μg
Vitamin C
27 mg
Vitamin E
2.5 mg
Vitamin K
310 μg
67 mg
1.77 mg
26 mg
0.426 mg
48 mg
521 mg
46 mg
0.5 mg
Other constituents
Water 92.21 g

Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Coriander (UK /ˌkɒrɪˈændə/;[1] US /ˈkɔːriˌændər/ or /ˌkɔːriˈændər/;[2] Coriandrum sativum), also known as cilantro (/sɪˈlɑːntr/)[3] or Chinese parsley, is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking.

Botanical description[edit]



First attested in English in the late 14th century, the word "coriander" derives from the Old French: coriandre, which comes from Latin: coriandrum,[4] in turn from Ancient Greek: κορίαννον koriannon.[5][6] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀒𐀪𐀊𐀅𐀙 ko-ri-ja-da-na[7] written in Linear B syllabic script (reconstructed as koriadnon, similar to the name of Minos's daughter Ariadne) which later evolved to koriannon or koriandron.[8]

Cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander, also deriving from coriandrum. It is the common term in North American English for coriander leaves, due to their extensive use in Mexican cuisine.


Coriander plants

Coriander grows wild over a wide area of Western Asia and southern Europe, prompting the comment, "It is hard to define exactly where this plant is wild and where it only recently established itself."[9] Fifteen desiccated mericarps were found in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B level of the Nahal Hemar Cave in Israel, which may be the oldest archaeological find of coriander. About half a litre (a pint) of coriander mericarps was recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen, and because this plant does not grow wild in Egypt, Zohary and Hopf interpret this find as proof that coriander was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians.[9]

Coriander seems to have been cultivated in Greece since at least the second millennium BC. One of the Linear B tablets recovered from Pylos refers to the species as being cultivated for the manufacture of perfumes, it apparently was used in two forms: as a spice for its seeds and as a herb for the flavour of its leaves.[8] This appears to be confirmed by archaeological evidence from the same period; the large quantities of the species retrieved from an Early Bronze Age layer at Sitagroi in Macedonia could point to cultivation of the species at that time.[10]

Coriander was brought to the British colonies in North America in 1670, and was one of the first spices cultivated by early settlers.[11]


All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking. Coriander is used in cuisines throughout the world.[12]


Coriander leaves

The leaves are variously referred to as coriander leaves, fresh coriander, dhania, Chinese parsley, or (in the US and commercially in Canada) cilantro.

Coriander potentially may be confused with culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), an apiacea-like coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), but in a different genus. Culantro has a distinctly different spiny appearance, a more potent volatile leaf oil[13] and a stronger aroma.

The leaves have a different taste from the seeds, with citrus overtones. However, some people find the leaves to have an unpleasant soapy taste or a rank smell and avoid them.[14]



Dried coriander fruits, often called "coriander seeds" when used as a spice
Coriander roots

The dry fruits are known as coriander seeds. The word "coriander" in food preparation may refer solely to these seeds (as a spice), rather than to the plant. The seeds have a lemony citrus flavour when crushed, due to terpenes linalool and pinene. It is described as warm, nutty, spicy, and orange-flavoured.

The variety C. s. vulgare has a fruit diameter of 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in), while var. C. s. microcarpum fruits have a diameter of 1.5–3 mm (0.06–0.12 in). Large-fruited types are grown mainly by tropical and subtropical countries, e.g. Morocco, India, and Australia, and contain a low volatile oil content (0.1-0.4%). They are used extensively for grinding and blending purposes in the spice trade. Types with smaller fruit are produced in temperate regions and usually have a volatile oil content around 0.4-1.8%, so are highly valued as a raw material for the preparation of essential oil.[16]

Food applications[edit]

It is commonly found both as whole dried seeds and in ground form. Roasting or heating the seeds in a dry pan heightens the flavour, aroma, and pungency. Ground coriander seed loses flavour quickly in storage and is best ground fresh. Coriander seed is a spice in garam masala and Indian curries which often employ the ground fruits in generous amounts together with cumin, acting as a thickener in a mixture called dhana jeera.[17]


Outside of Asia, coriander seed is used widely in the process for pickling vegetables. In Germany and South Africa (see boerewors), the seeds are used while making sausages. In Russia and Central Europe, coriander seed is an occasional ingredient in rye bread (e.g. Borodinsky bread), as an alternative to caraway.

The Zuni people of North America have adapted it into their cuisine, mixing the powdered seeds ground with chile and using it as a condiment with meat, and eating leaves as a salad.[18]



One preliminary study showed coriander essential oil to inhibit Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli.[19]


Having a deeper, more intense flavor than the leaves, coriander roots are used in a variety of Asian cuisines, especially in Thai dishes such as soups or curry pastes.

Flowering coriander for aphid control[edit]

In the Salinas Valley of California, aphids have been one of the worst pest in the lettuce fields. The USDA Cooperative Extension Service has been investigating organic methods for aphid control, and experimented with coriander plants and Alyssum plants; when intercropped with the lettuce and allowed to flower, they attract beneficial insects such as hoverflies, the larvae of which eat up to 150 aphids per day before they mature into flying adults.[20]


The nutritional profile of coriander seeds is different from the fresh stems or leaves. Leaves are particularly rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K, with moderate content of dietary minerals (table above). Although seeds generally have lower content of vitamins, they do provide significant amounts of dietary fiber, calcium, selenium, iron, magnesium and manganese.[21]

Taste and smell[edit]

Flowers of Coriandrum sativum

Different people may perceive the taste of coriander leaves differently. Those who enjoy it say it has a refreshing, lemony or lime-like flavor, while those who dislike it have a strong aversion to its taste and smell, characterizing it as soapy or rotten.[14][22] Studies also show variations in preference among different ethnic groups: 21% of East Asians, 17% of Caucasians, and 14% of people of African descent expressed a dislike for coriander, but among the groups where coriander is popular in their cuisine, only 7% of South Asians, 4% of Hispanics, and 3% of Middle Eastern subjects expressed a dislike.[23]

Twin studies have shown that 80% of identical twins shared the same preference for the herb, but fraternal twins agreed only about half the time, strongly suggesting a genetic component to the preference. In a genetic survey of nearly 30,000 people, two genetic variants linked to perception of coriander have been found, the most common of which is a gene involved in sensing smells.[24] The gene, OR6A2, lies within a cluster of olfactory-receptor genes, and encodes a receptor that is highly sensitive to aldehyde chemicals. Flavor chemists have found that the coriander aroma is created by a half-dozen or so substances, and most of these are aldehydes. Those who dislike the taste are sensitive to the offending unsaturated aldehydes, while simultaneously may also be unable to detect the aromatic chemicals that others find pleasant.[25] Association between its taste and several other genes, including a bitter-taste receptor, have also been found.[26]

Similar plants[edit]

Other herbs are used where they grow in much the same way as coriander leaves.


Coriander can produce an allergic reaction in some people.[28][29][30]


  1. ^ "British: Coriander". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014. 
  2. ^ "American: Coriander". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014. 
  3. ^ "American: Cilantro". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014. 
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. "coriandrum". A Latin Dictionary. 
  5. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert. "κορίαννον". A Greek-English Lexicon. 
  6. ^ "Coriander", Oxford English Dictionary 2nd ed., 1989. Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ "The Linear B word ko-ri-ja-da-na". Palaeolexicon. 
  8. ^ a b Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. 
  9. ^ a b Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Domestication of plants in the Old World, third edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 205–206
  10. ^ Fragiska, M. (2005). "Wild and Cultivated Vegetables, Herbs and Spices in Greek Antiquity". Environmental Archaeology. 10 (1): 73–82. doi:10.1179/146141005790083858. 
  11. ^ Aggarwal, Bharat B.; Kunnumakkara, Ajaikumar B. (2009). Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Uses of Spices: Modern Uses for Ancient Medicine. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. p. 150. ISBN 978-981-283-790-5. 
  12. ^ Samuelsson, Marcus (2003). Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 12 (of 312). ISBN 0618109412. 
  13. ^ Ramcharan, C. (1999). J. Janick, ed. "Perspectives on new crops and new uses - Chapter: Culantro: A much utilized, little understood herb". ASHS Press: 506–509. 
  14. ^ a b McGee, Harold (13 April 2010). "Cilantro Haters, It's Not Your Fault". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2012. Some people may be genetically predisposed to dislike cilantro, according to often-cited studies by Charles J. Wysocki of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. 
  15. ^ Gernot Katzer. "Coriander Seeds and Cilantro Herb". Spice Pages. 
  16. ^ Bruce Smallfield (June 1993). "Coriander - Coriandrum sativum". Archived from the original on 4 April 2004. 
  17. ^ "Dhana Jeera Powder - Also Known As Cumin and Coriander Blend or Dhanajiru Powder". My Spice Sage. Retrieved 2016-01-14. 
  18. ^ Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p. 66)
  19. ^ Silva, Filomena; Ferreira, Susana; Queiroz, Joao A; Domingues, Fernanda C (2011). "Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) essential oil: its antibacterial activity and mode of action evaluated by flow cytometry". Journal of Medical Microbiology. doi:10.1099/jmm.0.034157-0. PMID 21862758. 
  20. ^ Effective Intercropping for Biological Control of Aphids in Transplanted Organic Lettuce
  21. ^ "Nutritional Data, coriander seed, per 100 g". Conde Nast. Retrieved 2013-08-10. 
  22. ^ Rubenstein, Sarah (13 February 2009). "Across the Land, People Are Fuming Over an Herb (No, Not That One)". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2012. 
  23. ^ Lilli Mauer and Ahmed El-Sohemy (2 May 2012). "Prevalence of cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) disliking among different ethnocultural groups". Flavour. 1 (8). doi:10.1186/2044-7248-1-8. 
  24. ^ Ewen Callaway (12 September 2012). "Soapy taste of coriander linked to genetic variants". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11398. 
  25. ^ Josh Kurz (26 December 2008). "Getting To The Root Of The Great Cilantro Divide". NPR. 
  26. ^ Knaapila A1, Hwang LD, Lysenko A, Duke FF, Fesi B, Khoshnevisan A, James RS, Wysocki CJ, Rhyu M, Tordoff MG, Bachmanov AA, Mura E, Nagai H, Reed DR (2012). "Genetic analysis of chemosensory traits in human twins". Chemical Senses. 37 (9): 869–81. doi:10.1093/chemse/bjs070. PMC 3589946free to read. PMID 22977065. 
  27. ^ a b c Tucker, A.O.; DeBaggio, T. (1992). "Cilantro Around The World". Herb Conpanion. 4 (4): 36–41. 
  28. ^ Ebo, DG; Bridts, CH; Mertens, MH; Stevens, WJ (2006). "Coriander anaphylaxis in a spice grinder with undetected occupational allergy". Acta clinica Belgica. 61 (3): 152–6. doi:10.1179/acb.2006.025. PMID 16881566. INIST:17926832. 
  29. ^ Suhonen, Raimo; Keskinen, Helena; Björkstén, Fred; Vaheri, Eero; Zitting, Antti (2007). "Allergy to Coriander a Case Report". Allergy. 34 (5): 327–30. doi:10.1111/j.1398-9995.1979.tb04374.x. PMID 546248. 
  30. ^ "Food Allergy - Coriander Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatments and Causes". 1 February 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012. 

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]