Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Coriander along with all the Coriander containing recipes presented on this site, with 556 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Coriander (the plant is called Cilantro in North America) is the plant Coriandrum sativum which is an annual herb of the family Apiaceae (also known as Umbelliferae). As such it is a member of a huge family that contains carrots, cumin, caraway and fennel. Coriander is native to southwestern Asia west to north Africa. It is a soft, hairless, foetid plant growing to 50 cm tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems. The flowers are borne in small umbrella-like umbels that mature into globular dry fruits some 3–5mm in diameter. The name coriander ultimately derives from the Greek corys (beadbug) and the terminal -ander (resembling) and refers to the supposed similarity of the scent of the crushed leaves to the odour of beadbugs.

Unlike most of the other umbelliferae coriander is unusual in that all part of the plants are edible (dried fruit, leaves and stalks and even the roots). The plant can be grown throughout much of the world and will even grow from seed in Britain if given a sunny spot and sufficient water. The spice component of this plant correspond to the dried fruit that are commonly referred to as coriander seeds (or simply just coriander). They have a lemony citrus flavour when crushed, due to the presence of the terpenes linalool and pinene. It is also variously described as warm, nutty, spicy, and orange-flavoured. It is most common to encounter the fruit in the dried state, though they can also be eaten green. Ground coriander seeds are a major component of most curry powders and is used as a flavouring ingredient in certain Belgian-style beers.

Coriander seed will keep for up to a year and should be toasted lightly before use (as this enhances the flavour). It should then be ground in a coffee grinder or with a pestle and mortar before use. Outside of Asia, coriander seed is an important spice for sausages in Germany and South Africa. In Russia and Central Europe coriander seed is an occasional ingredient in rye bread as an alternative to caraway. Coriander is thought to have been introduced into Britain by the Romans as a preservative for meat and it was used extensively in Medieval cookery due to it's ability to mask the flavour of tainted meat. Interestingly, coriander was one of the first spices brought to the North American colonies in the 1670s and was probably one of the first species cultivated by the early settlers.

Coriander seeds have a warm, nutty and spicy quality; some even find or­ange-like qual­ity in it. In the ripe fruit, the con­tent of essen­tial oil is com­parably low (typic­ally, less than 1%); the oil consists mainly of linalool (50 to 60%) and about 20% terpenes (pinenes, γ-ter­pinene, myrcene, camphene, phell­andrenes, α-ter­pinene, limonene, cymene). In toasted coriander fruits, pyrazines are formed as the main flavour com­pounds.

The plant is believed to be native to Eastern Mediterranean (Greece) or Asia Minor. A subspecies, Coriandrum sativum var. micr­ocarpum is grown in Russia and Central Europe that has smaller fruit (less than 3 mm) and contains more essential oil than the oriental variety var. vulgare (greater than 3 mm), which is cultivated for fruits and leaves.