Recently I noticed 4" pots of Culantro for sale at Home Depot. I was looking for a long term replacement for Cilantro. If I buy Cilantro plants they seem to bolt into flowers and seeds within a few months. ( If I do buy Cilantro I will only buy them in winter months, only give nitrogen fertilizer, and still expect to only have them for a few months.) Because Culantro has the same flavor as Cilantro I thought it might be a good replacement. At least it would be fun to grow something new.
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| Young plant with first flower stalk starting from center. |
I remember seeing Culantro for the first time in Thailand several years ago. The fact that it is now for sale in Honolulu shows that we are getting a much wider range of herbs sold locally now. I have been having a look around the internet for information on the plant. It looks like Culantro can easily bolt in the summer too.....bother! Maybe it will not be a long term replacement for cilantro. However, if kept in partial shade and if you keep trimming off the leaves it may last up to two years. So we will see how it goes. This will mean notes added at the bottom of this post in the future.
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| Large flower frond with seeds forming at center of each rosette. |
I was also surprised to find out that this plant is actually native to the Caribbean islands and Mexico. It is usually called Vietnamese Cilantro here in Hawaii so I expected it to be an Asian native. In the wild it grows in moist, shady areas, The one plant I bought has grown well in a 6 gallon pot and now has a few babies growing from the side. It did grow a huge green flowering frond which I let mature to observe it. Apparently this plant will self seed easily but it is best to cut the flowers off to keep the leaves tender and tasty. I have found slugs nibbling at the leaves so keep an eye out for them.
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| The plant now older with babies growing...note slug damage too. |
One of my sons loves the Culantro leaves in his Saimin. They are also used a lot at Pho restaurants. It is better to cut the leaves off with some scissors rather than just pulling the leaves off and risk damaging the plant. I am still deciding if the chopped Culantro leaves work in my lunch sandwiches.. Time for a bit of experimenting. I plan to divide some of the new babies off the mother plant to pot up as they get bigger.
Aloha
PS...after growing this plant for a few months I think I will just stay with adding the leaves to Saimin soup. As the plant gets older the edge of the leaves grow rather sharp teeth so not so nice in a sandwich etc. I recently divided off and potted up a baby from the first plant and sent it home with my son. Maybe I can get him hooked on growing his own food although I am happy to see him taking an interest and gathering greens from my garden.
Dec. 2020
Picture of the mature plant now. The leaves are quite long. It does seem to be quite thirsty at this stage. I have been dividing a few babies off.
