I decided to tack on some coriander seed on a recent spice order and happened to taste it last night. Holy S*** what a night and day difference from baking isle variety! Just offering a heads up to wit lovers, etc. Intense citrus!
I am not really a spice beer guy but I am thinking of doing a coriander addition to my saison on deck since the stuff was so good.
Supposedly, the Indian Coriander (as opposed to the Moroccan) is really the shizniz. I guess Indian has bigger seeds and is less vegetal/hammy than the Moroccan, which is typically what is sold by Brewer’s Best, etc. and in supermarkets.
Do you think the Indian is what you got? I haven’t been able to find it, but haven’t looked that hard either 
.
Not sure what I got but it has has no off flavors at all. Never used the brewers best stuff so can’t compare but it is night and day to supermarket seed. Here’s what I got:
Total bright citrus blast and nice spicy zing. Seriously, it will be killer with wits, saisons, or summer beer.
The map of origin looks like Morocco and not India!
Penzey’s spices. Shop there and treat your spices like you would hops: cold, dark, O2 free environments only.
If there is a Penzey’s store near you, they leave fresh samples out for your olfactory pleasure. It was a lunch time browse that convinced me to pick up some black cardamom; I used it in my Christmas quad.
Cheers.
Fresh coriander?
Sorry but that is funny. It is a seed. It is not fresh.
Fresh coriander is cilantro.
[quote=“muddywater_grant”]Fresh coriander?
Sorry but that is funny. It is a seed. It is not fresh.
Fresh coriander is cilantro.[/quote]
Funny, when I saw the title of the thread, I thought, “He used cilantro in a beer? I’ve got to read about that.”
In cooking I’ve used coriander from The Spice House (Morocco) and from Penzeys (Canada). I prefer the coriander from The Spice House. IMO a little goes a long way in cooking and in beer. I put quite a bit in a wit that I brewed last year, and I found it had an intense, off-putting lemon flavor. This year I used a light hand and it came through nicely balanced.
Touche on the cilantro and chinese parsley comments… :cheers:
Anyway, KC hit on the head. McCormick’s and other coriander I’ve used had a slight citrus mainly orange flavor. This new stuff is intensely lemon/lime. I mean probably even better than zest… I am still shocked.
Any comments on how much to use and when to add for a saison? Thinking like 7g at 10 minutes…
I like the Indian stuff myself. Go to your nearest asian food mart and pick up a ginormous bag for like 2 bucks. If you’re not buying your spices from a foreign food store, you’re doing it wrong.
[quote=“muddywater_grant”]Fresh coriander?
Sorry but that is funny. It is a seed. It is not fresh.
Fresh coriander is cilantro.[/quote]
you can still have fresh seeds…
the key to all spices is fresh, find a place with high turn over rate and you wont get corriander that tastes like hot dogs…
You can also get a certificate of authenticity for a reproduction coin sold on TV at 3:00 in the morning.
The seed is dried. It’s not a fresh seed. Yes, something dried last week is going to be better than last year.
But IMO fresh corainder is cilantro. and anyway I was just being a smartass.
[quote=“muddywater_grant”]You can also get a certificate of authenticity for a reproduction coin sold on TV at 3:00 in the morning.
The seed is dried. It’s not a fresh seed. Yes, something dried last week is going to be better than last year.
But IMO fresh corainder is cilantro. and anyway I was just being a smartass.[/quote]
I know but you can still get it fresh and their is a huge difference and corriander damn near is dry on the plant, I have never had to dry it. If you pick it to early it will be bitter
I don’t think there’s any guarantee that Asian markets (or Indian markets for that matter) source their coriander from India. It’s very possible that many source whatever is cheapest/most accessible.
[quote=“muddywater_grant”]You can also get a certificate of authenticity for a reproduction coin sold on TV at 3:00 in the morning.
The seed is dried. It’s not a fresh seed. Yes, something dried last week is going to be better than last year.
But IMO fresh corainder is cilantro. and anyway I was just being a smartass.[/quote]
Yeeaahh, although coriander is the seed that produces cilantro they are not the same thing. One is an herb, the other is a spice. IMO they don’t really taste alike either. I get concentrated/earthy lime flavor from coriander and a much more fresh, orange-y/lime-y flavor from cilantro.
After reading my post I realize that I am a tool…but I wanted to chime in!
