Pantry · Spices

Coriander seed

The seed that is not the leaf: warm, lemony, and the other half of cumin in a hundred pastes.

Coriandrum sativum — the dried fruit of the cilantro plant · Also called ground coriander, coriander powder, dhania · From The eastern Mediterranean and South Asia, then every masala and sausage that needed citrus without fruit

Whole tan coriander seeds spilled from a small bowl onto linen.

The journey

Coriander seed is older in the pantry than the argument about the leaves. Egyptian tombs held it. Roman kitchens ground it. Indian and Moroccan blends still treat the seed as the round, sweet note that keeps cumin from tasting like dust.

Fifty-two recipes in the series name it, across twenty-three kitchens. Fresh cilantro is a different page. This one is the jar.

Public-domain botanical plate of coriander, Coriandrum sativum from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, 1887. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Toast the seeds until they smell like orange peel, then grind. Ground from a jar is fine if it still smells alive. Pair it with cumin more often than not.

A sausage, a curry paste, and a pickle all want this brightness. If a blend tastes flat and only hot, it is missing coriander.

Healers and the table

Mediterranean and Ayurvedic home kitchens used coriander seed as a gentle tea for a heavy meal. The comfort was the warm cup.

Coriander in a masala is cooking. It is not a treatment.

Traditional uses are part of the story of this spice. They are not medical advice.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

Find Coriander seed on Amazon