Spices & Herbs Codexery

Coriander

Annual herb with edible leaves and seeds, used globally.

An annual herb belonging to the Apiaceae family is known as Coriandrum sativum, or coriander.[1] Every component of the plant can be eaten, but cooking most frequently utilizes the fresh foliage and the dried seeds.[2]

Quick Facts

Genus
Coriandrum
Species
sativum

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

The word "coriander" derives from Old French, Latin, and Ancient Greek, possibly related to the Greek word for bed bug due to its fetid smell.[3] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-ri-ja-da-na, written in Linear B script.[4] Coriander is native to the Mediterranean Basin and grows wild over a wide area of West Asia and Southern Europe.[5] The flowers are borne in small umbels, white or very pale pink, with asymmetrical petals.[6]

Fifteen dried mericarps were discovered in a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B stratum at Nahal Hemar Cave in Israel, and eleven more from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period at Atlit-Yam, which, if correctly dated, represent the world's oldest coriander remains.[7] The tomb of Tutankhamen yielded approximately 500 ml of coriander mericarps.[8] A Linear B tablet from Pylos indicates coriander was grown in Greece for perfume production, suggesting cultivation there since at least the second millennium BCE.[9] Linalool is the primary component in the essential oil extracted from coriander leaves and seeds, responsible for the plant's flavor and scent.[10]

Some individuals describe coriander leaves as having a refreshing, lemony flavor, while others perceive a soapy or rotten taste.[11]

What the cited sources add

The same source states that the coriander grown in Russia and Central Europe has smaller fruits and more essential oil than the oriental variety.[12] According to the Katzer pages, the taste of the fresh herb is due to an essential oil almost entirely made up of aliphatic aldehydes with 10 to 16 carbon atoms.[12] The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines dhania as the leaves or seeds of the coriander plant used in cooking as a spice.[13] The Katzer pages explain that coriander leaves are named after parsley with geographic epithets like Indian parsley and Chinese parsley.[12]

The same source reports that coriander is an essential part of curry powder and most Indian spice blends.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jones, "Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary", Cambridge University Press, 6 October 2011, p. 110 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Samuelsson, "Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine", Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003, p. 12 (of 312) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; .; "Coriander", Oxford English Dictionary 2nd ed., 1989. Oxford University Press.; .; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Linear B word ko-ri-ja-da-na", Palaeolexicon; Arnott, "Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean", Oxbow Books, 2014, p. 48; Chadwick, "The Mycenaean World", Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 119; "Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)", Gernot Katzer Spice Pages, 29 February 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grivetti, "Coriander", Nutritional Geography: The integration of physical landscape, culture, economics; Zohary, "Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. xi+243+17 plates; Arora, "Wild coriander: an untapped genetic resource for future coriander breeding", Euphytica, 9 June 2021, p. 138; Lopes, "Characterization and evaluation of traditional and wild coriander in Alentejo (Portugal)", Acta Horticulturae, 20 en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maiti, "Crop Plant Anatomy", CABI, 2012, p. 262; Auer, "- A palynological database", PalDat - A palynological database (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kislev, "Early Agriculture and Paleoecology of Netiv Hagdud", An Early Neolithic Village in the Jordan Valley, 1988, p. 209–236; Kislev, "Archaeobotanical and archaeoentomological evidence from a well at Atlit-Yam indicates colder, more humid climate on the Israeli coast during the PPNC period", Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2004, p; Zohary, "Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. xi+243+17 en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zohary, "Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. xi+243+17 plates; "The Cultural History of Plants", Routledge, 2005, p. 161 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chadwick, "The Mycenaean World", Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 119; Fragiska, "Wild and Cultivated Vegetables, Herbs and Spices in Greek Antiquity", Environmental Archaeology, 2005, p. 73–82 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zheljazkov, "Hydrodistillation extraction time effect on essential oil yield, composition, and bioactivity of coriander oil", Journal of Oleo Science, 2014, p. 857–65 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Coriander" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rubenstein, "Across the Land, People Are Fuming Over an Herb (No, Not That One)", The Wall Street Journal, 13 February 2009; "Prevalence of cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) disliking among different ethnocultural groups", Flavour, 2 May 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. "Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)", Gernot Katzer Spice Pages, 29 February 2012. facts only, no text reused. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com
  13. "Dhania", Oxford Learners Dictionaries. facts only, no text reused. oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Coriander (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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