I'm talking about the leaves, cilantro. Coriander, the seeds, are completely different and taste fine.
I think a better description of the taste for me is that it tastes like stink bugs smell (which to me is strongly reminiscent of old dust, which is how I thought of it before I smelled a stink bug).
Reading the other comments, I didn't realize calling the leaves "cilantro" wasn't universal. My apologies for the confusion!
Are you in the US? Just curious if there's regional variation in e.g. supermarket labeling.
Because if you look at nationwide labeling, cilantro seems to refer exclusively to the leaves, and coriander exclusively to the seeds, and I've never seen anything different within the US:
No I'm in Europe. In the Netherlands we call the fresh herb coriander too, the term Cilantro doesn't exist. I think it's the same in Spain though it's a bit murkier there due to many Mexican restaurants calling it Cilantro.
I think in Ireland they called everything coriander too though i don't recall exactly. But I'd never heard the term Cilantro till i went to a Mexican restaurant in Spain :)
Sorry, I wrote my comment early in the morning and I didn't explain myself clearly.
"Coriander" was the standard English word, and "cilantro" the standard Spanish word, way before the European arrival to the Americas.
My understanding is that American English got the word "cilantro" for the leaves from Mexican cuisine... and then Mexican Spanish did the opposite and took the word "coriandro" for the seeds from English, to differentiate between the leaves and the seeds. I don't know how common the word is though; I have never been to Mexico so don't take my word for it.
However, European English and Spanish still use just one word each. If you ask me, I will say "hojas de cilantro" (leaves) and "semillas de cilantro" (seeds). It is not so common in our cuisine, so there is no need to have different words.
It's all "coriander." By default the term refers to the leaves, and if you meant the seeds you'd specify "coriander seeds". I didn't learn the Americanism "cilantro" until I was an adult.
I was quite confused when following an Indian cookbook, which kept referring to "fresh coriander." I tried to find it at the store, with no luck. But I can buy cilantro, no problem (:
Apparently "chinese parsley" is another term for it, perhaps less common now (haven't heard that in a while).
Is this whole thread about fresh cilantro leaves/stems, as I thought?
Or the ground form of its seeds which is totally different and generally called coriander? (At least in the US.)
Just because I've never heard of anyone refer to any kind of leaf as tasting like "dust".
And I thought the "soapy" thing was exclusively a reaction to the leaves, not ground coriander.