I ADORE it! I probably use it more than any herb, though rosemary and chives are in the running. I can't imagine a cilantro haters documentary. I'll have to check out those links. It does have a strong flavor, but...

This is our first growing season in our house, and we started a *tiny* garden. Just a few pepper plants and some herb plants. We're growing cilantro, basil, chives, and dill. I have used some dill, but I have used more cilantro than anything. Used a bunch last night for homemade spring rolls and some thai noodles. I said to the hubby (he was cooking...for a change!) as I went out to get the cilantro, "I love getting it fresh from the garden! If we do nothing else next year, we're at least doing herbs again!" So yummy. :)

Cass
Patience is a virtue that takes too long

Cilantro and cumin (yeah, I know it's a spice).. are not in my kitchen and rarely pass these lips. The main reasons I don't eat at Mexican restaurants (along with a dairy allergy).

How can people like an herb that tastes like soap??

Sweet Basil would probably have been my vote, with lemon sage and mint close behind.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

How funny that the first two comments perfectly illustrate the cilantro/no cilantro dilemma. I forgot to mention here that in the research for my own cilantro post I discovered that there is some belief that the way the taste of cilantro is perceived is a genetic trait.
Therefore, people like me can say that they "have the cilantro gene".

Cassandra, very jealous that you can grow your own.

Debra, so sorry you did not get the gene.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

It's OK. I do have the gene to be a "super-taster"... hmmm, I wonder if that's the same gene??

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

I have become a convert on cilantro. I used to not even be able to stand the smell of it. Now I LOVE it. (Cumin too Debra, I put it in almost everything I make.)

I also really love thyme. Especially fresh with chicken.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness
Sarah and the Goon Squad
Draft Day Suit

But I hate dill. Ok, I can tolerate and occasionally even enjoy dill pickles but that's about it. It's one of the few flavours that I always seem to be able to distinguish, even when used in minute amounts. Hmmm I wonder if there is a dill gene...

Sassymonkey, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

Sarah, how nice to hear that you're a cilantro convert. Possibly that disproves the gene theory if people can be converted? Or maybe you had a recessive gene? I Love thyme too!!

Sassymonkey, I'm also not that wild about dill, its ok, but will never be in my top ten. But, I do like ranch dressing, go figure.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

are the two spices I could not do without. Debra and I must have *very* different genes! :)

Cass
Patience is a virtue that takes too long

I know it's cliched but while I do like cilantro, I adore oregano.

However the favorite herb greatly depends on what style of food I'm making. Cumin is a favorite also. :)

Jim Heivilin

It's not a cilantro haters documentary. I try as hard as possible to remain cilantro agnostic in my reporting. I want to represent both sides of this crucial debate. You see the trailer for it here.

What's most important though is to recognize Kalyn and her crew for the great success that weekend herb blogging has become!

This is modified from Martha Rose Shulman's wonderful book "Mediterranean Light." It is amazing because it packs full cilantro flavor without any evidence of cilantro in it!

Coriander Soup
2 Bunches of cilantro, rinsed well and tied together with kitchen twine
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large chopped brown onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 32-oz can chopped tomatoes in their juice
4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper
Pinch cayenne
Juice of a lime

Saute onion in olive oil until it is tender. Add garlic, cumin and paprika and saute for a minute. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the water, the tomato paste, the bunches of cilantro, salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, covered.

Remove the cilantro bunches and puree the soup with a food mill or in a food processor or blender. Add cayenne and lime juice. Stir. For prettiness, you can serve each bowl with a sprig of cilantro.

...only if it's fresh, not dried. Dried cilantro tastes like yesterday's tea. Sort of. The fresh doesn't keep well, as the blogger said.

Rage Is Good Food

For me it's a toss up between cilantro and basil. I'd always grown up eating basil in minute quantities when I was sick - cold, cough, fever, because it was supposed to have healing properties. When I got here and saw how it can be used in pizzas or pesto sauce, I became an instant fan.

My biggest problem with cilantro is how difficult it is to store it. And dried I think it tastes weird. I use coriander seeds sometimes for that extra punch in some dishes, especially with eggplant which goes really well with coriander.

Great thread Kalyn.

Priya Ramachandran
Blogher Contributing Editor - South East Asia
Words on Water

Way up! I love it and use it all the time. I just used it last night as a garnish on both my daikon tofu soup and my beef and taro root black bean sauce stew.

I also make a fresh tomato, feta, cilantro pasta that rocks. It's simple, delicious, and full of sass.

I use dried coriander in curries and soups, potato croquettes, lots of things. I agree that it's great with eggplant, especially with a little cumin.

I love cilantro and make a garlic-laden cilantro pesto cream sauce for pasta that I adore. However, that hating cilantro thing does come up from time to time, and a lot of people say they are allergic to it. Two recent guests who told me they were allergic to cilantro also in the next breath asked me if I would make that basil sauce I made the last time they lunched with me. It was cilantro. I didn't tell them. My favorite herb is marjoram, because, as Monty Python said about the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects it!