Cilantro is a funny thing, for us humans: turns out there's a very specific gene that gives some people the ability to taste the yummy flavor in it (I suppose it's the phytochemical that the plants make to attract bees and other pollinators).

But if you're one of the people who don't have that gene (*raises hand*), you can't taste the yummy at all. For folks like us (Me, you mother, and Partner) eating cilantro tastes like chewing on a bar of soap -- matter of fact, the first time I tasted cilantro in a frozen dinner I bought, I thought that I'd failed to rinse the dish soap off my fork. (I suppose what we're tasting is the phytochemical that deters other bugs from chewing on the plant's leaves...).


Now that I know it's not soap, I've trained myself not to spit out my food as a reflex, but it's still less then fun... I'd suggest keeping it out of the general recipe in the big pot, but keeping the fresh leaves for garnishing your own dishes when you serve them.