Coriander? Whats the secret?

Hi all, I was wondering if anybody could give me any good tips for getting coriander started? I love the flavour of coriander leaf, but it only works when it's fresh, not dried. I hate paying out the stupid prices that the supermarkets charge for it, but anytime I buy a coriander plant it seems to die within a week or two. :confused:

Please, is there some magic trick I'm missing? Any hints that anyone can offer?
Thanks in advance!

 

Where do you buy the plant? The ones on sale in supermarkets aren't intended to last long. Go to a garden centre or nursery and you should be ok. It can be grown from seed but you will end up with loads.

You can buy tiny little frozen ice cubes of coriander which are very good whilst you wait for your own to grow, pack price about 75p.

 

I freeze those herbs that are not good when dried (like chives). May be you can chop up the next supermarket plant and give it a try, just to see if it works for you

 

Thanks both for the handy hints!

Oh, *looks embarrassed* didn't realise that! Thought that as they were potted up they were meant to be grown (or that it was at least a possibility), but remembered hearing a few years ago that coriander was quite a hard plant to get started, so put the repeated deaths down to something I was doing wrong. :o

That's *not* a problem, believe me! :D
I don't have any fancy equipment though, will I be ok just to germinate the seeds with the "damp kitchen towel in a dark place" method? Then transfer them to pots once they've sprouted?

Cheers for the hint, have seen those, but wasn't sure if they'd be any better than freeze dried leaf (which was a total waste of money!) so have steered clear up 'til now.

 

When I first saw the herb plants in the supermarket I thought they would last a while and was really disappointed when they didn't.
You can probably buy a plant in the garden centre or nursery for about £1.00 - £2.00 if you don't want to try the seeds.
The basil, Italian herbs and crushed garlic frozen cubes are good as well. I can be a lazy cook at times:rolleyes:

 

For seeds -
This time of year get several small flower pots and put in compost. Add 4or 5 seeds to the pot and leave outside until they sprout. Then bring one in and put on a sunny window sill, pick the leaves until just 1 or 2 remain, put it outside and bring in another. The one you have just been using will carry on growing and you should have a nice supply of coriander.

 

Hello PR and welcome to GC.

Here in the Algarve Coriander is widely used .... being a hot climate we tend to eat a lot of grilled food and salads, unlike further North of us. It is used chopped in salads, on omelettes and on grilled meats and fish. Consequently it is widely grown in vast quantities. It is my favourite herb closely followed by Basil.

What I have learned is that it prefers to be in the ground rather than a pot, especially if that is a small pot, ie, like they come in at the grocery store.. It requires a light, but fertile well-drained soil and full sun ... here I can grow it in a filtered sun location because of the heat.

Should you be successful with it, please remember it is an annual .... even here!

Good luck ..... :thumb:

 

I have grown coriander from seed in the greenhouse before....with mixed success.

I don't like paying the silly prices for the seed packets so tend to use the coriander seeds I have in the kitchen.
I do buy in bulk and have about 1 lb of coriander seeds at the moment. I make my own spice mixes.

Here in Milton Keynes the market in the city centre is excellent and will sell 2 or 3 huge big bunches of corainder for £1. I normally get it from there when I want to make corainder chutney, and I have never yet managed to grow that much coriander in one go.

I finely chop and freeze coriander for the winter months because it does give the curries that extra flavour which otherwise seems to be lacking.

 

@ UJH
Nothing wrong with being a lazy cook, it's what the food tastes like at the end, not how long it takes to prepare that matters IMO

Lady Gardenerre
Thanks for the welcome! Am so jealous of you, both for living in such a warm climate, & because it happens to be a good place to grow coriander too. Maybe that's the answer to my problems- move to a climate that better suits me, and my favourite herb! *grin*

Yeah I tend to knock up my own spice mixes too, the continental stores around Exeter are great for picking up seeds in decent quantaties at a reasonable price. Wouldn't touch the spices sold in the main stream supermarkets these days, they are *so* expensive in comparison!
Like you, I find that without some leaf coriander thrown in at the end of cooking, curries just seem to be lacking something flavour wise.

Have you ever tried curry leaves? They're another minor flavouring in a lot of curries; I've only dabbled with them so far, but even in small quantity they seem to add something unquantifiable which I've found makes my curries taste a little more like a proper Indian.