I’ve been wondering for a while now if I might have that gene or whether Cilantro is just a herb i dislike. I can stomach dishes with cilantro in them, but it just stings through everything. No matter how little was put in, it tastes to me like somebody over-cilantro’d the dish. I’ve never eaten anything where I thought “Mmmh, yes, there’s a subtle hint of cilantro” - it’s always “Oh, there’s the cilantro, and it’s just too strong”.

But whenever I read about this online, people say that it tastes like soap. It’s been a couple of years since I was toddler enough to just put soap in my mouth. But in my mind, the taste of soap is mostly bitter, with an overwhelming tropical/fruity/citrussy flavor of whatever the producers decided to make the soap smell like. I also imagine it having a really unpleasant texture/mouthfeel. I have no urge to try eating soap, just so I can compare it with the taste of a herb. And I assume that most people with the Cilantro-gene also haven’t made an actual taste-comparison. So hence my question: In what way does anything - but cilantro in particular - taste like soap?

  • kiwifoxtrot
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    1 day ago

    The taste of a spice like cumin will be highly dependent on the age of the seed and if it is ground or not. Ground spices oxidize quickly and lose a lot of volatile compounds which contribute to their depth. To taste cumin properly, it is best to lightly toast whole cumin seeds and then crush/ grind them. The difference between the store bought ground cumin is night and day.

    • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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      24 hours ago

      I’m not saying, that the taste isn’t strong enough for me. I’m saying that it actively adds a taste, which I can best describe as “hollow”. Falafel or hummus with cumin tastes worse to me than without…