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The first time I tried cilantro was an unbelievable experience. I was in Boston and I went to an amazing taqueria, the kind where they create everything in front of you out of amazingly fresh ingredients. When they asked me if I wanted it on my burrito, I had to taste it first. It was love at first bite! Then I made my first cilantro pesto and I was forever hooked.

The cilantro plant, which will grow up to 3 feet high, has been gaining in popularity for a long time in Tex-Mex cooking. If you take a quick look at cilantro you might belive that it is parsley, but its sweet and musky taste can verify it’s certainly unlike any parsley I know of. Cilantro is the name of the foliage, which has awesome pale pink blossoms, but the plant that comes from the seeds is known as coriander.

You can begin your cilantro plant from seeds or purchase it from a local nursery, greenhouse or home improvement store. As an annual, you’ll need to start each year with new plants. I love to ccultivate my seeds in late winter and line the pots up on my kitchen windowsill so I do not miss the little sprouts that can pop up in 7 to 10 days.

Cilantro herbs thrive on moist, rich sod, so it is best to plant them in a raised bed after the weather gets sunny. If your climate gets too hot, remember that your cilantro does appreciate light shade in the warmest weather. Don’t forget that if your cilantro gets too much sun or too much heat it can turn bitter.

About nine weeks or so after you plant the cilantro, you can have plants with pretty lavender, white or pale pink flowers. If you want to skip growing in containers, just wait until it gets warmer and plant the seeds outside. With sunny skies, nice temperatures and some rain you will have cilantro sprouts in about 2 weeks.

You will get the strongest flavor from your cilantro in the summer. You can clip off a few leaves and either add them whole or chop them and toss in your favorite Mexican dinner.

You can even dry your cilantro and use it later for fall, winter and spring dinners. The best way to ensure that the leaves can have a heavy concentration of oils is to clip them off just before the plant blooms. You can get nice outcomes if you dry this herb on a drying rack. Remember that you will need more of the dried cilantro than you will the fresh because the taste will not be as concentrated.

You can harvest the coriander seed by drying them first—hanging them upside down in a paper bag will work best. Roll the seeds between your hands to discharge the seed from the pod. Next you will want to freeze the seeds for a minimum of 2 days and then store them in a cool, dark location.

As one of the curry spices, you can cook with the crushed coriander seeds as a powder in baking, stews, soups and casseroles.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Herb Garden Plants. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.