cilantro question

17 years ago

Since cilantro seems to be an ingredient in most hispanic cooking and it supposedly does not like heat and moisture what do the Mexicans and others from Central and South America use? I know Mexico has shorter days than most of the US and in some areas they do use another plant that they call cilantro. But I have wondered if the broad use of cilantro we see in hispanic cookbooks is just a writers desire to have a broader selling base.

Any members that have lived in Mexico or the regions South of there could you please educate me.

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Comments (8)

ksrogers
17 years ago
Plant in shade and in cooler mountain areas.
User
Original Author
17 years ago
What about the areas in Mexico that are dessert. I would think just planting in shade would not work.
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ksrogers
17 years ago
Maybe they don't grow any in the deserts
Daisyduckworth
17 years ago
You are probably thinking of Thai Coriander, also called Culantro, or Mexican Coriander (and many other names). Eryngium foetidum. A spiky sort of plant, totally unlike coriander (cilantro), and unrelated, but with a strong coriander flavour. It's a tropical perennial, sometimes treated as an annual in cooler areas, whereas Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is a tender, short-lived annual which bolts to seed in warm conditions.
User
Original Author
17 years ago
No, I am talking about regular cilantro. Most of the hispanic cookbooks over use cilantro even in the few that I have found translation editions.

This is the reason I asked if anyone had lived in the area of Mexico and south of there.
francescod
17 years ago
Mexico is one of the leading commercial producers of our imported cilantro (along with Morocco and Romania). So it must grow just fine down there.

Life of cilantro can be increased by planting in shade.
Macmex
17 years ago
I lived in South Central Mexico for over a decade. Cilantro was grown and sold everywhere I went, even in the desert (but with irrigation). In Hidalgo, where we lived for about 8 1/2 years, it was grown commercially. There, the day time temps often hit close to 100 F. and, except for April and May, the hottest time of the year, night time temperatures were cooler than here in Oklahoma.

Mexico has many micro climates, mainly due to its mountainous terrain. At 5000', where we lived in Hidalgo, the climate was semi-tropical, but we did receive frost for a couple of months a year. At 7500 feet, in the state of Puebla, where we lived for 5 years, it rarely got above 90 F., and that was in April and May. Night temps were much cooler. For ten months of the year we wore light or medium weigh jackets.

George
Tahlequah, OK
cyrus_gardner
17 years ago
Cilantro can also be a seasonal crop in Mexico.
They can be enjoyed as fresh vegetable when it is cool and then let it bolt and grow seeds(coriander).
My cilantros bolted in mid May and now they have lots of seeds that I will collect. By mid july I will plant new crop that will last till frost, maybe later and won't bolt.
Culantro (so-called Thai cilantro) although has similar aroma, but it is all together another thing. It is very tough and not as tender. I tried it, I did not like it and I don't think its a close substitute for the real thing =cilantro.