I never knew about cilantro AT ALL until I met my Mexican (now US citizen) wife. I don’t happen to mind it, and even love her cilantro salad dressing to death.
However, we have noticed that a certain number of people that we have had to the house will HATE it - with the complaint that it tastes like soap). This is the SAME batch of cilantro, or cilantro-based dressing or whatever, that is eaten by people that LOVE it. So it is NOT the preparation of it, or how fresh it is, it is the tastebuds of whomever it is who consumes it.
Remember Bush 41’s intense dislike of broccoli? Well, he was a “super-taster,” someone with an unusually acute sense of taste. I have a feeling that something similar is going on here with the cilantro. Some people are just never going to like it, no matter what.
Super Tasters.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if there were folks who could taste the chemical make-up of foods, natural and man made.
There are folks whose taste buds are actually insured by the various companies they work for so it’s a definite asset. LOL
I worked with a young man who could not stomach Celery in any format. I could add only 1 (one!) celery see in a cup of homemade soup and serve it to him aside with a cup of the same homemade soup without a celery seed added and he could taste it every single time. Tried it over several years with different soups.
My beloved husband cannot tolerate cream cheese in any of the recipes I prepared. Past tense. Let me tell you, eating delicious food by oneself gets old. LOL If I want something with cream cheese I make sure to order it at a nice restaurant.
Pres Bush 41 most likely could taste something about the broccoli.
Oh. It’s a good thing when I set up each of my kitchens I never put in Coriander! Didn’t like the smell of it when I was presented it... Yech.