Coriander
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is a versatile and popular annual herb whose seeds and roots are used as spices, and fresh leaves and stems as seasoning, vegetable and garnish. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia.
In the USA, coriander is called cilantro. The plants reach heights of up to 1.2m and can be either erect and tall with shorter branches or bushy with a weaker main shoot and longer branches. The branches and the main shoot terminate in compound umbels, with each umbel containing numerous white or pale pink flowers. Larger variety fruits (up to 5mm in diameter) are typical of tropical or subtropical climates, while smaller fruits (up to 3mm in diameter) are typical of temperate climates.87 The mature fruits split into two halves, or mericarps, each containing a single seed. The herbage, seeds and roots all have different flavours. The leaves have a sweet, citrus component. The fruits yield a volatile oil described as warm, spicy-aromatic, sweet and fruity, dominated by linalool, which is largely responsible for the flavour. The roots have a more intense flavour than the leaves or stems. Interestingly, the cooler climate of northern Europe appears to produce more linalool in coriander than the tropical climate of India and similar.The perception of flavour of coriander is different between differing groups of people: while most find it a very pleasant and attractive addition to food, there is a significant minority who find it tastes soapy. Based on a 2012 article in Nature, this may be due to a difference in olfactory receptor genes which influence the sense of smell.88 In particular, the OR6A2 gene encodes a receptor that is highly sensitive to aldehydes, which contribute to the flavour of coriander. Notwithstanding this divergence of opinion, its popularity goes back a very long way.
The oldest coriander fruits discovered to date are from the Nahal Hemar cave in Israel and date to 6000 BCE.89 Axel Diederichsen concludes that coriander originated in the Near East based on archaeobotanical research and ancient literature, as well as the distribution of the other species of the tribe Coriandreae.90 There may be evidence of Egyptian use of coriander as early as the 5th dynasty (2500 BCE).91 Coriander was recovered from baskets in Tutankhamun’s tomb (19th dynasty, c. 1325 BCE) among many other well-preserved plant materials.92 In Mesopotamia, coriander was grown in various cities in the third millennium BCE, including Lagash and Umma. At Lagash, in the Ur III period, it is included in a list of spices and herbs and other foods.93 At Old Babylonian Ur (c. 2000–1600 BCE) coriander was used as part of food offerings at temple sites. It was recorded from the second millennium BCE town of Nuzi, where it was brought into the town from surrounding villages and gardens. Coriander is referred to in the 1550 BCE Ebers Papyrus. Spices used in Mycenaean Greece (1600–1100 BCE) included coriander, fennel and mint, which must have seasoned an otherwise uninteresting cereal diet – we know this from clay tablets written in Linear B script.94 Coriander was also one of the herbs listed in the seventh-century BCE scroll of the great library at Nineveh, Assyria. The seventh-century BCE list of plants (on a clay tablet) in Merodach-Baladan’s garden includes coriander.
Jack Sasson listed condiments and herbs in the court of King Zimri-Lim of Mari (in modern Syria; reigned 1775–1761 BCE) – cumin, black cumin, coriander, saffron, myrtle and scented reed.95
A single seed of coriander dated to 540–330 BCE was found at the ancient city of Gordion, Turkey.96 Coriander and cumin may have been introduced to India via Persia by the second half of the first millennium BCE.97 Although coriander leaves were used since the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE), the seeds were not used as a spice until the Muslims arrived in India (seventh century CE), possibly explaining the major use of coriander seeds in Mughlai cuisine.98
Classical Greek authors wrote about coriander: Aristophanes (446–386 BCE), Theophrastus (371–287 BCE), Hippocrates (460–370 BCE), and Roman authors Pliny and Columella (both first century CE).99 Coriander seeds were present (among other condiments) at the Roman town of Mons Claudianus in Egypt.100 They were found in the Cardo V sewer at Herculaneum, the largest sample of Roman shit ever found! The sewer protected its contents from the effects of the 79 CE eruption of Vesuvius.101 Dioscorides described coriander as cooling and able to reduce infection and inflammation, among other things. Coriander seed taken with wine was thought to both expel worms and create sperm.
But too much could dangerously disturb the mind. Apicius listed coriander as one of the most important European spices and Roman demand was very high. It was extensively cultivated in Egypt and elsewhere to meet this pressing demand.Coriander was present at Silchester, imported before the 43 CE Roman invasion (seeds were found in waterlogged sediments that date from 20 BCE to 20 CE).102 Coriander was also popular in the post-invasion Roman settlement. Seeds have also been found at several Romano-British forts as well as rural, urban and other sites as part of a diversification of foods in Britain during the Roman period, with as many as fifty new foods introduced during that time.103 In fact, coriander is characteristic of European Roman settlements but became much less common after the fall of the Roman Empire.104 It reappears in the medieval period 950– 1500 CE, though appears to be a luxury condiment of urban life.
Coriander was referred to in a Chinese book on agriculture from the fifth century CE.105 Diederichsen notes that the long history of cultivation in India is borne out by the many local names for the plant, as well as Hindi and Sanskrit names, which are often related to each other. Coriander is listed in De Villis (c. 771–800 CE), a text related to royal estates during the reign of Charlemagne, and/or the ninth-century Plan of St Gall monastery garden.106 It was also among the herbs bequeathed by the Bede to his brethren.
However, coriander was an uncommon spice in medieval England. Coriander (and fennel) was found in fourteenth- to fifteenth-century deposits in Winchester.107
John Gerard (1597) called coriander ‘a very stinking herbe’ but highly praised the dried seeds as ‘very convenient to sundrie purposes’.
In Hannah Glasse’s 1747 recipe for ‘Currey the India way’ only pepper and coriander seeds and salt are used for seasoning, but by the 4th edition (1751) ginger and turmeric were added.108 Coriander seed also appears in ‘Cullis the Italian way’, pickled pig’s feet and ears, dressed calves’ liver, baked salmon and seasoning for collar of beef, but generally coriander was used infrequently in her recipes. By contrast, it has in recent times been labelled the favourite fresh herb in Britain, with over 30 million packs sold in 2013, partly due to the popularity of Asian curries, stir fries and the popularisation of Italian cuisine.109
India is the world’s largest producer of coriander today, with around 750,000 tonnes in 2019–20; it is also the largest consumer. It is grown in many countries, with other large producers including Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Syria, Morocco, Canada, Argentina, Romania and Iran.