Cleaning Cilantro

Most of the cilantro you buy is pretty dirty so it needs to be washed thoroughly. Just rinsing the bunch of cilantro under running water does not always wash away the little pieces of grit that can be nasty and uncomfortable when they end up in your mouth. There is an easy way to clean cilantro. Keep your cilantro in a bunch and fill up a medium size bowl with water. Dunk the bunch of cilantro in the bowl of water and, using your hand, swish it around really well, dump out the water and refill the bowl. Repeat the swishing of the cilantro bunch and then leave it to sit in the water for about five minutes. The dirt particles will sink to the bottom of the bowl by this time. Gently lift out the bunch of cilantro and at this point spin dry in a salad spinner(my preferred method) or dry out on paper towels. You can then pick off the leaves, keep them whole or chop them. Unlike other herbs such as parsley, basil or thyme, the stems of this herb are edible and taste pleasant, not too stemmy. So if you like, use them up along with the leaves in rice paper rolls, soups, pestos, tacos etc. instead of throwing them away!