any tips to make cilantro last longer?

Parent Cafe
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<p>The French chefs from one of book that I checked out said to keep herbs for a longer time, drop one tiny bit of bleach in a big bowl of water and then wash the herbs with it. I have not tried this myselves.</p>

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<p>For cilantro lovers, try the Sante Fe salad at Cheesecake factory with the amazing cilantro dressing</p>

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<p>Around here, growing parsley and cilantro in the fall-winter-spring means less problems with “bolting”. Need young plants in the fall though, which isn’t always easy unless you are growing from seed.</p>

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<p>The seeds are great (they get renamed Coriander for some weird reason) - use in Indian cooking. :slight_smile: However they taste completely different from the leaves.</p>

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<p>Unlike some other herbs, dried cilantro loses its flavor; freezing is a much better way of preserving it. I use coriander in Middle Eastern and Indian dishes as well, and it does have a very different taste!</p>

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<p>hmmm</p>

<p>about the bleach thing – I know HOCl is especially potent against microbes, more than OCl- is. So maybe a tiny bit of bleach into diluted vinegar?</p>

<p>I also wonder if storing it with antioxidants like vitamin C or citric acid will help …</p>

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<p>NO NO DO NOT ADD BLEACH TO AN ACID!! You will release chlorine gas!</p>

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<p>I don’t want to add bleach to anything I eat! </p>

<p>I’ve tried to grow herbs in pots on my windowsill without much luck. Basil seems to do best. I love both cilantro and tarragon but they don’t seem to like the indoors. Anyone have any luck doing this?</p>

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<p>Here’s a review of the frozen “Dorot” product at Trader Joes.</p>

<p><a href=“Google”>Google;

<p>[Flavorful</a> Cooking Made Easy With Dorot Cubes | Props and Pans](<a href=“http://www.propsandpans.com/2008/03/14/flavorful-cooking-made-easy-with-dorot-cubes/]Flavorful”>http://www.propsandpans.com/2008/03/14/flavorful-cooking-made-easy-with-dorot-cubes/)</p>

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<p>[Flavored</a> Vinegars and Oils](<a href=“http://cecalaveras.ucdavis.edu/vinegar.htm]Flavored”>http://cecalaveras.ucdavis.edu/vinegar.htm)</p>

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<p>and more here</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/foodnut/09340.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/foodnut/09340.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“antibacterial agents that are not readily available to consumers” sounds alarming. Antibiotics of some sort? Tetraalkylammonium salts? No, thanks! I’ll take my herbs dipped in beach, please.</p>

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<p>Are quaternary ammonium salts that dangerous? :S </p>

<p>(Well I guess they’re sort of detergents … do they disrupt cell membranes?) </p>

<p>Maybe they’re bacterial cytochrome inhibitors — but I have been looking for mild antimicrobial agents that promote the lifespan of products but are mostly harmless to ingest (except maybe encouraging natural selection).</p>

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<p>[Prevent</a> Salmonella Poisoning and Remove Pesticides from Food with Hydrogen Peroxide](<a href=“http://hubpages.com/hub/Prevent-Salmonella-and-Remove-Pesticides-from-Food-with-Hydrogen-Peroxide]Prevent”>http://hubpages.com/hub/Prevent-Salmonella-and-Remove-Pesticides-from-Food-with-Hydrogen-Peroxide)</p>

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<p>Try those green bags. I can recommend Hefty Fresh Extend. They add quite a bit of life to greens like cilantro and watercress. The bags are a version of the packaging that salad stuff now comes in; they let out some vapors, keep others in, keep others out.</p>

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<p>I freshly cut the stems of the cilantro bunch, put them-stem first- into a glass with a couple inches of water, put the business into the fridge, and place one of those green bags over the top. Sometimes I remember to change the water.</p>

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<p>Is it like nanoscopic holes they use to let out HOH and ethylene gas, but not say, bacteria?</p>

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<p>I think they absorb the ethylene, wutang, and slow down the spoilage.</p>

<p>I use these: <a href=“http://www.cakecutter.com/index1.html[/url]”>http://www.cakecutter.com/index1.html&lt;/a&gt; and buy them at grocery stores or BB&B. I wash and reuse them.</p>

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<p>Dangerous is a relative term (based on tox data), but I would not want to eat this:</p>

<p>[Benzalkonium</a> chloride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzalkonium_chloride]Benzalkonium”>Benzalkonium chloride - Wikipedia)</p>

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<p>I feel like laughing because the ad says they “*[actively](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_transport]actively[/url][/i”>Active transport - Wikipedia)[/i</a>] work” … but what does the bag run on, refrigerator lights?</p>

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<p>Mafool, they do. Ethylene speeds up the ripening process and spoilage of many kinds of produce.</p>