Reference point
Toast a spoonful of coriander seed in a dry pan until fragrant, crush lightly and smell.
Do this before you read on. An entry only works when you have just smelled the thing.
Sweet, warm, with an orange note and a light layer of wood. Nothing like the leaf of the same plant.
The pair of coriander leaf and seed is the strongest example in the dictionary of differentiation within one plant: the leaf belongs to the green family, green and pungent; the seed belongs to the spicy family, sweet and orangey. They do not even share a dominant compound.
Raw and toasted seed differ too. The raw seed has a slightly musty note; toasting removes it and brings out the orange.
How to smell it
Toast a spoonful of coriander seed until it smells, let it cool for a minute, crush it lightly and smell. Then crush a sprig of fresh coriander. It is hard to believe the two come from the same plant.
Why this one is hard
Because the shared name leads people to expect a resemblance, and that resemblance does not exist.
Don’t confuse with
This entry
Toasted coriander seed
Spicy family
Seed and leaf of the same plant, in two different scent families. The seed is sweet, with an orange note; the leaf is green and pungent.
Scientific note
Coriander seed and leaf come from the same plant but do not share a dominant compound. The leaf is rich in the straight-chain aldehydes behind the soap controversy; the seed is rich in linalool, so it is sweet with an orange note. People who find coriander leaf soapy often still like toasted coriander seed — one plant, two opposite reactions in the same person.
In Vietnamese life
Coriander seed is one of the oldest spices in use, found in ancient Egyptian tombs. In Vietnam it is little used in cooking but familiar in traditional remedies and in the mùi già bath water of the lunar new year.