PrintKeeping Cilantro: Science Experiment Results
I am the one who started "Buying Produce for One" last week. My special problem was with cilantro. Well, did I ever learn a lot!
After all your great comments, I set up my experiment and all three methods below work great! The cilantro looks like it was just purchased.
#1 is in a mug with an inch of water and loosely covered with a plastic produce bag.
#2 is in a fast food drink cup with an inch of water, lid on and holes in the sides to imitate the Preserva Herb Savor. Thanks, renzata.
#3 is washed in the salad spinner and in an air-fillled ziplock bag with a paper towel in the vegatable drawer. Thanks, chiffOnade.
I think my biggest mistake was not cutting off enough of the stem. I cut about 1-1/2 inches this time. A florist tells me that when a stem is cut the cells start to deteriorate up from the bottom and you need to take a pretty good chunk off to get back to the healthy cells further up the stem.
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14 Comments:
thanks for the followup!
lemons at 7:36PM on 05/04/08
Thanks from me too for the follow up!
chiff0nade at 10:05PM on 05/04/08
I'm currently using method #1 with a huge bunch of basil that I bought for 99 cents on Saturday. When I get home from work I'll cut off more stem. Now I've got to figure out what to do with all that basil.
(Pesto is an obvious choice but I like a variety of options.)
CanadianFoodieGirl at 8:57AM on 05/05/08
Why would you want to keep cilantro anyways? Isn't there enough of this vile weed on our planet? Maybe the reason it goes bad so quickly is that God is trying to get rid of it.
chasgoose at 2:48PM on 05/05/08
@chasgoose: To each his own. People love it or hate it. I would have agreed with you when I first moved to New Mexico, but after a few years I began to crave ciliantro, and chile too. Think I'll start a new thread about whether our home climate/geography changes our appetite.
Blue Iris at 3:33PM on 05/05/08
Are all three kept in the refrigerator? It's a little unclear. Thanks.
karen r at 3:54PM on 05/05/08
@Blue Iris: I know I was sort of kidding, even though I hate it. Although I am not so sure how your theory about climate/geography will pan out. I have lived in Arizona for the last 14 years and it has done nothing to make me like cilantro anymore.
chasgoose at 4:08PM on 05/05/08
@karen r: Yes, all three in the refigerator. The first two on a shelf, the last in the veggie drawer.
@chasgoose: Well, you're right about some foods. I have never warmed up to bizcochitos which are at the heart of Christmas for most New Mexicans.
Blue Iris at 4:15PM on 05/05/08
I usually do #3 but have started thinking it is too wasteful (paper and plastic), thanks for the alternatives!
Carosone at 4:16PM on 05/05/08
@chasgoose - Apply your sentiment to mint and you could be me!
chiff0nade at 4:28PM on 05/05/08
Some people are genetically predisposed to taste cilantro as bitter and "soap-like," based on their ability to taste the chemical phenylthiocarbamide. Not to be the med school dork or anything.
Thankfully, I taste cilantro as the delicious and glorious herb that it is, but am still thoroughly entertained by the haikus at the online community called ihatecilantro dot com.
ReneeRobinson at 7:42PM on 05/05/08
@ReneeRobinson: that's interesting, not dorky. The first few years in New Mexico I thought cilantro smelled/tasted like Woolite. Then somehow I got to like it. Now I even use it like lettuce in sandwiches.
Blue Iris at 12:52AM on 05/06/08
Thanks for doing the dirty experimental work for the rest of us. I just bought a huge bundle of cilantro and I'm glad to have some tried-and-true methods for keeping it fresh.
butterface at 12:56AM on 05/06/08
Cilantro is an evil weed!
However, a way to preserve it and basil is to put it chopped in water and freeze in cube trays, then put cubes in a sealable stacking tub (trying to stop with the annoying, shifty, and environmentally bad bags) and take out as needed.
Sieseye at 5:07AM on 05/06/08