As a companion post to the Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup recipe that I posted a few days ago, I thought I would write about my adventures in growing cilantro (which, by the way, is a perfect addition to the taco soup).
While I have grown cilantro successfully from seed, I am always surprised at its short life span, particularly in the warm climate in which I live. Before I know it, the plant bolts to seed. The cilantro I started from seed is long past it's prime. In fact, the seeds (corriander) are already dried.
Wanting a photograph to go along with my discussion of cilantro, I stopped at the local garden center this morning. No cilantro, but they did have culantro. The label said that the flavor is similar to cilantro but more pungent--sounded good to me. So I began to search for information about this new (to me) herb.
The culantro leaves are thicker and more succulent than those of cilantro. As a result, the leaves can reportedly be dried or frozen easily. Culantro is widely used throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Far East and is often used interchangably with cilantro.
