# coriander/cilantro



## paugirl

hello:could you say what is the difference between these words, please?thanks in advance.


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## bfd

My wife says that they are the same thing in different forms. Cilantro is fresh and coriander is dried.


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## Gabino

Pues no entiendo, pensaba que cilantro era en español y coriander en inglés  . Es más estaba (o estoy???) completamente seguro.


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## bfd

Tengo ambos en mi cosina ahora. Estoy seguro que ambos sean ingles.

Coriander is in a spice bottle and cilantro is fresh in the refridgerator.


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## JohanG

Coriander is the seed of the coriander plant and cilantro is the leaves when we are talking about cooking ingredients.  Coriander is an important ingredient in cooking East Indian foods.  Cilantro is sometimes called Mexican Parsley in my area.  Yes both are English words......Johan


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## ikbendeliefdemoe

I think you wanted to say: The difference between "*coriandro*" and "cilantro". They are sinonyms, but it is true that "coriandro" is used mainly to talk about the seeds of this plant.
It is also known as "culantro" or "perejil chino".


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## Tizona

*coriandro**.*
 (Del lat. _coriandrum,_ y este del gr. κορίανδρον).
* 1.     * m. p. us. *cilantro.*



_Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados_
__

*cilantro**.*
 (Del lat. _coriandrum_).
* 1.     * m. Hierba de la familia de las Umbelíferas, con tallo lampiño de seis a ocho decímetros de altura, hojas inferiores divididas en segmentos dentados, y filiformes las superiores, flores rojizas y simiente elipsoidal, aromática y de virtud estomacal.


_Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados


_Cilantro es la traducción de coriander. Y, aunque se parezca al perejil, el sabor no tiene nada que ver. (Yo no lo soporto, BTW)
__​


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## Gabino

> Coriander is the seed of the coriander plant and cilantro is the leaves when we are talking about cooking ingredients. Coriander is an important ingredient in cooking East Indian foods. Cilantro is sometimes called Mexican Parsley in my area. *Yes both are English words*......Johan


 
You're right, maybe I got confused because that's a false friend.


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## Abierto

Estoy de acuerdo con JohanG.


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## todasana

*Wikipedia dice:

Coriander* (_Coriandrum sativum_), also commonly called *cilantro* in North America...

Asì que creo que es definitivamente dos formas de llamar a la misma hierba


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## verouy

bfd said:


> Tengo ambos en mi *cocina* ahora. Estoy seguro que ambos *términos son en* ingl*é*s.
> 
> Coriander is in a spice bottle and cilantro is fresh in the refridgerator.


 
O mejor: "*Estoy* seguro que ambas palabras *son* en inglés".
               Presente (estoy) ................Presente (son)....

Sólo ayudando con el español.... nada para agregar del cilantro/coriander


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## Mate

Coriandro = _coriander_
Cilantro = _cilantro or coriander leaves_


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## Gabino

I like cooking. In my country we only have cilantro, never heard of coriandro.


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## lforestier

There is a type of Cilantro that is called Culantro or Recao in my country. It's called Serrated Coriander in English.


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## todasana

In Costa Rica what I call cilantro is called *culantro*, and there is a different one called *culantro coyote*, with longer leaves and different shape. But no one is known as coriander or coriandro.


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## culumeta

as far as I know and use them cilantro is fresh and coriandro (coriander) is a dried powder, (or little seeds)


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## maneldesig

I beleive both are the same: when you speak about seeds it is called coriander seeds, but you can buy fresh coriander (at least here in England!) So I think is exactly the same thing, being coriander the English word and cilantro de Spanish...


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## Bonjules

lforestier said:


> There is a type of Cilantro that is called Culantro or Recao in my country. It's called Serrated Coriander in English.


Que yo sepa, en Puerto Rico, tenemos la mata con las ojas anchas: La llamamos cilantro o culantro(recao).
La de las hojas mas finitas la llamamos cilantrillo.
saludos


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## jinti

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

*cilantro**:* leaves of coriander used as a flavoring or garnish
*coriander**:* an Old World annual herb (_Coriandrum sativum_) of the carrot family with aromatic fruits; the ripened dried fruit of coriander used as a flavoring


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## Lagartija

jinti said:


> From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
> 
> *cilantro**:* leaves of coriander used as a flavoring or garnish
> *coriander**:* an Old World annual herb (_Coriandrum sativum_) of the carrot family with aromatic fruits; the ripened dried fruit of coriander used as a flavoring



I agree. That is how we use the words here.   The seeds (ground or whole) are coriander and the leaves are cilantro.


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## Mate

_"...Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), also commonly called cilantro in North America, is an __annual herb..."_

_"...The leaves are variously referred to as coriander leaves, cilantro (in the United States, __from the Spanish name for the plant), dhania (in the Indian subcontinent, and __increasingly, in Britain), Chinese parsley or Mexican parsley..."_

_"...The leaves have a very __different taste from the seeds, similar to parsley but "juicier" and with citrus-like __overtones..." _

_"...The dry fruits are known as coriander seeds or coriandi seeds. In some regions, the use __of the word coriander in food preparation always refers to these seeds (as a spice), __rather than to the plant itself..."_

_Similar plants:_

_Eryngium foetidum has a very similar taste to coriander and is also known as culantro. _
_Vietnamese coriander leaves have a similar odour and flavour to coriander. _
_Bolivian Coriander, or quillquiña, has been described as "somewhere between arugula, __cilantro and rue"..."_

Source:_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriander_

Nota: Los subrayados son míos.

Saludos - Mate


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## loladamore

maneldesig said:


> I believe both are the same: when you speak about seeds they are called coriander seeds, but you can buy fresh coriander (at least here in England!) So I think it is exactly the same thing, being coriander the English word and cilantro de! Spanish...


 
Yes, in the UK we talk about *(fresh) coriander* when talking about the leaves and *coriander seeds* when referring to the seeds (obviously). Indian cookery books sometimes call the fresh leaves *green coriander* (_dhunia_) and refer to the ground seeds as *ground coriander* (_dhana_) to make the distinction. 

In spite of the use of the word *cilantro* in the US, I don't think most people would know what it was in the UK. I wonder why the Spanish word was borrowed in the US? I suppose it could be because it was introduced via Mexico. 

Saludos.


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## lforestier

Bonjules said:


> Que yo sepa, en Puerto Rico, tenemos la mata con las ojas anchas: La llamamos cilantro o culantro(recao).
> La de las hojas mas finitas la llamamos cilantrillo.
> saludos


Es un error muy común decirle cilantro al culantro. Son dos plantas distintas con sabores muy parecidos. El cilantro o cilantrillo se usa mucho en PR al igual que el culantro o recao. 
http://www.caribbeanseeds.com/cilantro-culantro.htm

http://homecooking.about.com/cs/herbsspices1/a/cilantro_2.htm

Abajo incluyo la imagen que tiene la etiqueta de la marca principal de "sofrito", salsa típica de la cocina puertorriqueña. Los ingredientes incluyen cilantro y culantro.


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## ruru2006

verouy said:


> O mejor: "*Estoy* seguro que ambas palabras *son* en inglés".
> Presente (estoy) ................Presente (son)....
> 
> Sólo ayudando con el español.... nada para agregar del cilantro/coriander


 
Since we're at it:

mejor: "*Estoy* seguro que ambas palabras *son estan* en inglés".
Presente (estoy) ................Presente (*son inglesas* o *estan en inglés*)....


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## friedfysh

I can solve this, the seeds are called coriander no matter where in the world the English speaker is from. North Americans call the leaves cilantro (probably because it is so damn popular in mexican cooking) and everyone else: British people, Australians, Kiwis, Irish, South Africans etc call them coriander leaves, or just coriander. Solved.


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## Harmattan

in Spanish is cilantro or (less common at least in Spain) culantro / coriandro. If you want fresh leaves yo ask for "cilantro fresco" and if you want seeds you ask for "semillas de cilantro".

Otherwise, differences are just regional usage.


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## labruja

cilantro, culantro y coriander, es lo mismo exactamente, son sinónimos, aunque el coriandro es el nombre científico, para ser exacto Cf. coriandro, y por tanto muy usado en países europeos o en USA, para ser llamado en lugar de su nombre común, que depende del país que se visita.


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## kclarkson01

Estoy de acuerdo con todos en este foro.  Pero siendo de los EE.UU., creo que la confusión viene que los ingleses dicen "coriander" cuando la hierba está ambas fresca y seca y en norteamerica, decimos "cilantro" cuando la hierba está fresca y "coriander" cuando está de forma seca. 


*please correct my errors.


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## Hajt

labruja said:


> cilantro, culantro y coriander, es lo mismo exactamente, son sinónimos, aunque el coriandro es el nombre científico, para ser exacto Cf. coriandro, y por tanto muy usado en países europeos o en USA, para ser llamado en lugar de su nombre común, que depende del país que se visita.


Quiero insistir en el mensaje de Iforestier; en Centroamérica se conoce a dos plantas distintas con el nombre 'culantro': el cilantro (_Coriandrum sativum)_, y el 'recao' (_Eryngium foetidum)_


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## martcorrea

Buenas noches,

Me integro a este hilo solo para comentar que en México el cilantro no tiene traducción en Ingles y se escribe de la misma forma.

Saludos


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## inib

The translation of herb names seems almost as complicated as the translation of berry names (on which there are numerous threads).
Just to give another example: I was led to believe that the Spanish _orégano_ was _marjoram_ in English (some dictionaries suggest _wild marjoram_). But a lot of peope use _oregano_ in English. And _marjoram_ is also translated as _mejorana_. And we can get ourselves into a terrible tangle when we try to translate the different varieties of mint.


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## missnoodle

Coriander is the British English word, used for all parts of the plant. Cilantro is only used in American English, I see it in American cookbooks but it's not used elsewhere in the UK. I guess down to the greater influence of Spanish on American English


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## merquiades

Cilantro is the fresh leaves you buy at the market.  It's used in salads and sauces and has a fresh tangy taste
Coriander is the dried seeds you get in a spice bottle that you can store forever
Though the taste is not the same, they are just different parts of the plant.  A lot of people don't even know this.
I guess this difference cannot be made in Spanish. Both are cilantro


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