Growing Pencils

I love fresh cilantro and every attempt to grow it in my yard has been a sad failure. Happily for me, the basil in my garden has thrived and the harvest was abundant. This pencil turning into cilantro might be a thing to try. As it turns out, a person’s love or hate for cilantro is mainly determined by genetics: specifically, variations in olfactory receptor genes that influence how they perceive certain chemicals called aldehydes found in cilantro. For those with particular gene variants, cilantro tastes soapy and unpleasant, while others experience it as fresh and citrusy. 

These preferences rarely reveal anything significant about someone’s personality or character, but they do highlight the diversity and complexity of human sensory perception. Cultural exposure and repeated tasting can sometimes shift individual preferences, but overall, the cilantro divide represents a fascinating intersection of genetics, environment, and experience. 

For me the love of cilantro is like a litmus test. If someone does not love it nearly as much as I do, it is highly unlikely that we will get along never mind become friends. Maybe that is about genetic imprinting as well. Across cultures, cilantro and coriander have also been associated with protective magic, success, prosperity, and eloquence. For me its about the smell of comfort and goodness.