Though little-known in American cuisine today, coriander has enjoyed a rich past. It was named as an aphrodisiac in 1,001 Arabian Nights, it was treasured in China during the Han dynasty (207 B.C.E.-220 A.C.E.), and it is one of the bitter herbs of Passover. Coriander seeds have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Romans used [...]
This false relative of parsley–sometimes called Chinese parsley–is the world’s most-widely consumed fresh herb. Cilantro is used extensively in Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern cooking. Culantro, a closely-related plant, is native to Latin American and the Caribbean and is used often in Puerto Rican and Cuban cuisine. Traditional salsa, salsa verde, the [...]
The “real” cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka. Cinnamomum zeylanicum is much milder than Cinnamomum cassia, the hotter variety to which we are accustomed. Both, however, are the bark of an evergreen tree. The distinction is of legal importance in England and Australia, however–there, it is illegal to pass off cassia as being cinnamon. The [...]
