Good and Good For You: Cilantro

 

Okay, so I haven't had a chance to get in the kitchen and play with new recipes...saving that for this weekend.  In the meantime, I thought I would do a little research into one of the ingredients that crops up in The New Southwest and many other cookbooks -- cilantro.

Now there are two predominant camps when it comes to cilantro, people seem to either love it or hate it, and I used to be in the latter camp.  But I'm slowing making my way into some middle ground with this herb.  Though it started to became very trendy in the 1990s, its been around forever.

Cilantro is the leafy part of the coriander plant, Coriandrum sativum, and is sometimes known as Chinese parsley. Cilantro is common to both Mexico and China and though Mexico sits on the border, it was actually the Chinese railroad workers in the 1860s who introduced the herb to North America.  They planted seeds by their camps to use the herb for cooking and left a trail of the herb behind them.

These days cilantro is used in wide array of ethnic cuisines in the U.S.  While some people use cilantro and parsley interchangeably (they are both members of the same family), there is a distinct difference in taste.  Cilantro has a very herby, pungent, almost astringent taste with slightly sweet undertones.

Cilantro is best used fresh and raw because it loses its aroma once dried.  In order to retain its potency, the best practice is to add cilantro at the end of your cooking process or as a garnish.  Cilantro makes a great salad green and is also good used as the main herb for pesto or chimichurri, a green sauce served with grilled meats (hmmm, may be seeing a post with that soon).

One of the interesting things about cilantro is that it's actually considered a healing herb.  The leaves have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.  They have a positive impact on blood cholesterol levels (lowers bad/increases good) and is believed to help in regulating blood sugar levels.

Cilantro is a good source of potassium, calcium and contains high levels of lutein which is good for good eye health.  Cilantro also contains vitamins A and C, which are amplified when cilantro is consumed with carotenoids (orange and yellow fruits and veggies).

One of the properties that cilantro promotes is detoxification in the body, especially with skin, bone, and brain.  Through environmental effects and consumption of other foods, metals build up in the body and cilantro is a good way to help detox and process those metals.

So if you're like me and like the idea of eeking out your youth a little bit longer, then jump on board the kinda-like-it Cilantro train with me and let's test that puppy out.