Random Things

[foxgrrl]

1. Is it just me, or does Coriander/Cilantro smell like an old cat litter box to anyone else? (It tastes unpleasant too.) Edit: If Cilantro is not unpleasant to you, what does it taste like?
2. My birthday is coming up in a few days, I want everyone to NOT give me any presents. I have too many physical objects in my life right now, and I don't need anymore — except hard drives. (Or certain specific camera lenses, which I don't think anyone is going to buy for me.) (I'm considering going up to Harbin to celebrate.) Edit: Oh yeah, and there's a campout rave thing Jul 10-12.
3. For the last several months I've been saving tomato seeds from the various heirloom varieties that I find at various vegetable markets, and planting them, and waiting, and waiting, and being disappointed that none of the seeds sprouted. Except that in the last few weeks, all of the seeds sprouted. I now have at least 200-300 seedlings of many unusual and delicious heirloom tomatoes. So does anyone want any tomato plant seedlings? Also, I still have mimosa tree seedlings too.

Edit: Speaking of weird sensory things, do you find that most glass is slightly green colored. I mean like car windshields and stuff. It's very noticeable when looking at red light through it, most of the red color gets filtered out. My camera lenses don't seem to cut out the red when I look through them, so the terrible red fidelity of my photos is probably just from the sRGB colorspace or something (or the IR bandpass filter cuts off too high). It's kinda frustrating, because I can't get red things to look right. (Kodachrome is much better at this.)

Comments

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

Up through my twenties, cilantro tasted like antibacterial soap. Growing up in Texas this was hard for me as it was in all the Mexican cooking. I've since acquired the taste for it in small amounts. I never had a problem with the coriander seeds though.

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

YES to the tomatoes too; I've got a box of dirt that needs some more greenery in it.

[foxgrrl]

Any preference on which varieties? I have a bunch I didn't label, and I've kinda lost track of which is which. So we could just play tomato variety roulette.

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

Oh I'll take my chances. I could use any variety at all; my oeuvre is "big red" (Celebrity) and "little red" (Sweet 100 cherry).

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

I could meet up with you somewhere. A bit of planning is required as I don't have a car of my own; I could get a ride someplace or you could bring them round to my place in Mountain View.

[two-pi-r.livejournal.com]

It doesn't taste like soap to me, but from what I've learned from random biology majors that it's caused by a relatively-common genetic mutation.

[solarbird]

Battery acid. With a nasty, soapy undertaste. I know it's a genetic thing, but damn that shit is awful.

[tyrsalvia.livejournal.com]

I would *love* a tomato plant seedling or two! I don't know if you've labeled them, but preferences for green zebra and red cherry tomatoes, but I'll be happy with any kind!

[foxgrrl]

All of the cherry tomato-type of seedlings I have are the Santa F-1 variety (I think), also known as Sugar Plum Grape Tomatoes. I also have green zebra seeds, but I don't think I have any seedlings yet, but I probably will in a week.

[tyrsalvia.livejournal.com]

Sure, whatever works. If the green zebras don't grow, I'd happily take something for a mid-size slicing tomato.

Also, it would be lovely to see you. I know you're often way busy, but any time that works for you let me know.

[phar.livejournal.com]

Cilantro tastes like dish soap in garden soil to me. It's a popular opinion that the taste of cilantro is a genetic preference, you either like it or you don't, according to the receptors bred into your eating bits. Everyone I know seems to like the stuff (and when they like it, they REALLY like it!), though I've never gotten a good description of exactly how it tastes to them.

[foxgrrl]

Oh yeah, I was going to asked everyone what Cilantro tastes like to them.

[serafaery.livejournal.com]

Yes, I learned in some Biology 101 class in college that the soapy taste cilantro has in about 1/4th humans is due to a recessive gene of some kind. It tastes lovely and fresh to me, similar to Italian parsley but less bitter, slightly grassier/mintier, maybe a teeny bit lemon-y. Very mild.

[foxgrrl]

It tastes lovely and fresh to me, similar to Italian parsley but less bitter, slightly grassier/mintier, maybe a teeny bit lemon-y. Very mild.

Yeah, that sounds like something that tastes good. When I taste it, it's a very strong OMGWTF flavor, like soap or dirt or something. It doesn't taste parsley-like, minty-like, or lemony-like at all.

[serafaery.livejournal.com]

The Bio101 class I took had a few paper samples to test for different recessive taster genes - some of the paper tasted like nothing (like putting a piece of paper on my tongue), but one tasted like detergent so strongly I think I stood up and made a bunch of sputtery noises when I tasted it. Other students tasted the same sample and got nothing.

If that's what cilantro tastes like to people with the cilantro-tastes-icky gene, I am so sorry! Ickers! :P

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

I agree with your assessment of cilantro entirely.

[ivy]

That's about how it tastes to me too. No soap, no dirt. Just fresh and mintyish and pleasant. Green.

[arethinn]

I agree with this assessment of cilantro. It also has a kind of pleasantly buttery or oily flavour-texture to it, to me. I adore the stuff generally, although it is possible to overdo it (as with any herb seasoning); my mother hates it with a passion, saying its taste and smell are foul (she must have that recessive gene).

[foxgrrl]

Coffee also smells great and tastes horrible. Ditto beer. And banana strings taste like nothing.

Funny you mention that, I don't like the taste of coffee, or beer. I thought it was just me. And I didn't realize until now that banana strings were supposed to have flavor — I mean they're indistinct banana flavored.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why anyone would drink coffeee - YUUUCCCCKKK!!! It tastes even worse than skunk smells. And it makes you nervous. Why would anyone want it?

I am very picky about beer - the large American stuff is very bitter, with a slight redolence of cat piss. Lots of the microbrews have so much hops that the stuff bits the back of my throat.

Banana strings taste like the rest of the banana to me.

[hasufin.livejournal.com]

Typically, the reason for coffee "smelling good but tasting horrible" is that it smells good by virtue of the VOCs in the coffee being released into the air. Unfortunately, if they're released into the air, they're no longer in the coffee... there are a number of clever ways to release the oils and VOCs from the bean while keeping them in the coffee - espresso, turkish coffee, cold brew, vacuum pots - but it's still tough.

Beer is another matter. Have you ever tried lambic? I hate beer because I loathe the flavor of hops. I don't think I taste them differently than anyone else, I just don't like that flavor. Lambic is basically beer sans hops, and doesn't taste the same at all.

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

See one of the recent issues of New Scientist for an interesting bit about taste detection of Cilantro, I think it was on the back page, with the write-in questions.

IIRC, it's that it has two sets of molecules, say A and B, since I can't recall the details. Everybody can taste A, and it's nice. But B is where it's interesting: a large portion of the population cannot taste it at all, but the others that can, find it horrible and overpowering.

[idea-fairy.livejournal.com]

Might there be a market for an artificial cilantro-like flavor that has only the A molecule, without the B? If the description of the two molecules is accurate an A-only pseudo-cilantro should appeal to more people than the natural version.

Has this been tried? It seems like a rather obvious thing to do. Or is there some reason it isn't feasible?

[idea-fairy.livejournal.com]

Further thought: I see two possible approaches: One would be a synthetic version of the A molecule, while the other would be a genetically engineered cilantro plant lacking the B.

Again, has either of these been tried?

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

Both sound interesting, but certainly beyond my level of knowledge in the subject. What I had was just what I picked up in passing.

[hasufin.livejournal.com]

I really have a hard time describing how cilantro tastes. I've heard it's supposed to taste like soap, or any of a thousand other thigns... to me it tastes like cilantro. And cilantro tastes, well, horrible.

I'd *love* to have some of your tomato seedlings. However, I'm on altogether the wrong coast for that to be practical. Such is life.

[adularia.livejournal.com]

I'm not a cilantro supertaster, and cilantro tastes like normal Italian parsley plus bits of tamarind and vegetal-green-grass scent. Normal Italian parsley tastes like especially salty lettuce.

The only time I've gotten the dish-soap impression was from Vietnamese coriander, when I was trying to grow it as a replacement to the Mexican variety, which is annoying to grow in small amounts. Vietnamese coriander is not botanically related to coriander, but smells very similar except more so. To me it smells oily, like okra.

[adularia.livejournal.com]

The seeds are definitely stronger, yeah.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

CIlantro is nasty. I avoid Mexican cooking because they love to use it; I never know when someting is going to end up flavored with it. I wouldn't say it's "old cat litter box" but it sure as hell isn't nice.

Don't they put some sort of anti-glare tinting in car glass? I dunno, I'm never inside cars much any more to notice.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I love cilantro! It tastes a little like a cross between lemon, but with the clean edge of mint.

I hate the smell of sage incense. It smells like something died, and I can't stand it when someone at a ritual insists on smudging everyone with it. Peeee-yyyyeeeewwww!!! However, I don't mind it in food, because it tastes a lot better than its incense smells.

[arethinn]

Those are totally different varieties of sage, or should be. Smudges are usually white sage salvia apiana whereas cooking sage is salvia officinalis, which is not terribly suited as an incense sage (I know this from experience). I have no idea if one could cook with white sage, or would want to (never seen a green plant).

[aenaminie.livejournal.com]

If you have extra tomato seedlings I'd love to take some off your hands!

[aenaminie.livejournal.com]

Cilantro - Tastes like soap!!!

Glass = Yes... I find most of it oddly green colored but I'd never thought about it.

[hep.livejournal.com]

cilantro smells/tastes like food to me. im mexican tho and we eat it in literally everything so it's either love it or hate it! I have heard the soap thing from several people, but only lemony things taste like soap to me. coriander tastes like orange trees.

i also have to pick up cuttings from your other plant! do you have any free time in the next few months for me to drop by? i can come down there.

[brok3ncooki3s.livejournal.com]

:O We're like opposites! I abhor cilantro, to me it's like taking a bite off a bar of Zest soap, and when I eat something with the smallest bit of cilantro in it, the smell rushes my nostrils in the most unpleasant way.

I don't care much for raw onions in burgers or sandwiches, but I loooove caramelized onions and I don't know if I'll ever grow tiered of garlic. XD

[lex-blue.livejournal.com]

Cilantro tastes vaguely metallic to me. Not soapy, acidic, or especially awful... but I still don't like it.

[ovrclokd.livejournal.com]

cilantro definitely tasty like soapy nastiness to me. oddly enough, i don't have the same negative reaction to coriander; it tastes lemony and minty, without any of the soap flavor.

yay, tomato seedlings! wish i lived close enough to take you up on your offer...

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

Oooh, tomatoes! I could probably make space.....

Also, I like both cilantro and coriander. Cilantro goes well with lemon, to me, and coriander has a sort of citrus-y taste...

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

http://ihatecilantro.com/ amuses me :)

odly, i hated cilantro as a kid, but like it now.

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Happy Birfday to You!

[bunnykitteh.livejournal.com]

Mmm cilantro tastes delicious. I will have to pay more attention next time I eat some and tell you what it tastes like (other than, well, cilantro:)

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that the natural color of your basic soda-lime glass is slightly green, due to iron oxide impurities (especially now that I confirmed it on Wikipedia). Cilantro tastes like soap to me, except on rare occasions. Belated happy birthday.