Cumin?

[Jane J.]

Better yet, just ask for recao.

(Although technically, it is culantro.)

[MommC]

I just pick it up and pay for it!! And I have heard the "other" use of the word.
But when I've asked my housekeeper what it is called she does say culantro.......(I'd have never known as cilantro is the botanical name for it!)

[Pib]

I must have been living in a different country cause I've never, EVER, heard that word (culantro) before.

[Jane J.]

I found it here...

You say cilantro, I say culantro? I would never call it culantro, BTW - too racy.

Dunkin Donuts had a new ice coffee out this summer called "Koolata"....like I was ever to going ask for THAT.

[MommC]

She could be saying cilantro!!!
And I think Jane may have two different spices/herbs mixed up. Recao is not the same as cilantro although it does have a similar flavour. Cilantro (the kind I buy) is what we call Chinese parsley and looks very much like the flat leaf Italian parsley but with a distinctively different flavour. It is also used very much in East Indian and Thai/Vietnamese cooking. It looks exactly as the specimen you posted whereas recao looks very different.
Recao is what I buy when I'm making juandules (otherwise known as pidgeon peas). It's flavour is much stronger than cilantro but has similar tones.

[m65swede]

Fresh cilantro is not only widely used in the DR, but is absolutely essential in Mexican salsas. There is no excuse for not having an abundant supply; most of the markets even here in Central Illinois, USA stock it.

And it grows nearly everywhere. I plant it in the spring and store it in frozen or dried form. Just let the plants go to seed if you desire coriander.

Swede

[Jane J.]

MommC, I regret mentioning culantro at all - I thought it was a funny word - but I am not "mixed up". What I was saying was this:

Recao is not cilantro. Punto final.

If you click on this link http://www.umassvegetable.org/soil_c..._culantro.html perhaps you will better understand.

[MommC]

At least regarding the difference between cilantro, coriander and recao/culantro although I'm sure many were......
I can even tell you what the English name for dragoncello is (now just try finding that in the DR!!- I bring mine -dried-from Canada.)
I use herbs and spices that many have never heard of and not just for cooking!
So hopefully those who missed the humour of your post at least now know there is a difference between cilantro/coriander and recao/culantro and that the stuff that looks like parsley in the markets in the DR but smells and tastes different is really cilantro.

[MrMike]

Cilantro grows up wild through the cracks in they concrete on my driveway, I rarely have to buy it.

[J D Sauser]

Cumin is called "comino".
What is offered in Latin America as "comino" is not always the same you would expect when coming from the States or parts of Europe.

Cilantro and Culantro is not the same regionally around Latin American countries. Venezuelans and Colombians even know both, Culantro being much stronger in taste, the leaves much smaller and more intricate in "design" (for the lack of better words to paint a picture, sorry) than the Cilantro used mostly in the DR.

Simila differences can happen when discussing parsley.

So, naming foods and plants in Spanish speaking countries is NOT exact science! The most confusing thing is naming some fish. Even in Spain, some fish see their names SWAPPED acorss the peninsula. The same can happen when trying to ID a fish around Latin American countries or even worse, trying to compare it to a name learned in Europe (eg. Spain).

Yet, everywhere, people will try to lecture you and tell you that "this" one is the only "real" plant, food or animal and that "this" is it's "real" name.


... J-D.