A careless purchase

[fpb]

What do I do with half a dozen limes? It's not an Italian fruit, I never had it before, and I have no idea whether it can even be eaten as it is.

Comments

[rewindrewrite.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Limes have a more interesting taste, I think. Oh, and the juice is fantastic on rice with cilantro.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Cilantro?

[rewindrewrite.livejournal.com]

Yep. The tanginess goes well with the lime...unless you have that gene that makes it taste like soap.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The thing is, we aliens on Planet Europe have no idea what cilantro is.

[rewindrewrite.livejournal.com]

It looks like this (http://images.google.com/images?q=cilantro&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi). According to the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriander) and the Gourmet Sleuth article (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Exotic-Herbs-Spices-and-Salts-639/cilantro.aspx), both of which show up when the term is Googled, cilantro is the leaves and stems of the coriander plant.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

OH! Now I feel like a fool. Well, of course I know it. I call it Prezzemolo or Leaf Parsley. In fact, it's an Italian commonplace to use Prezzemolo as the image of something that is everywhere and used for everything. Apologies for the lexical confusion.

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

No, they are not the same thing at all. They look similar but smell very different. Cilantro is the leaves of the coridander plant (coriandolo), also sometimes known as "Chinese Parsley"

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

I just went and got my Ritcher's herb guide. Leaf Parsley (Prezzemolo) is Petroselinum cripum neopolitanum. Cilantro is Coriandrum sativum.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That actually explains a lot. At any rate, coriander - named - is easily found in Indian shops in London.

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

I like the note in the "Gourmet Sleuth" article that, "people of European descent frequently are reviled by the smell of cilantro. It has not gained in popularity in Europe as it has in many other parts of the world."

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I know that now. And not for the first time in the course of this thread, I feel rather foolish. I have used Prezzemolo all my life; it is a native plant in Italy, and indeed an Italian by-word for someone or something that goes everywhere.