Coriander Seed

This bizarre autumn weather is causing various problems for the wildlife around my Suffolk home.  Butterflies such as the comma, which had disappeared two or three weeks ago, have been making a surprise return to hedgerows, and the neighbours’ apple tree has returned to blossom.  On the other hand the sunshine is rewarding my faith by finally ripening my outdoor tomatoes, and a few days of genuine heat have dried off the coriander or cilantro if you prefer, which I let run to seed way back in July.


Coriander seed

Now that the entire plant is brown and brittle, harvesting the seeds could hardly be easier.  I simply pulled up the whole plant and carefully pushed the seed heads down into a large paper bag.  Plastic bags are not suitable as they can cause the plants to sweat and rot rather than dry out.  Also, most plastic bags these days have ventilation holes for safety reasons and these are a perfect size for little coriander seeds to escape.

I could hear seeds been brushed off and falling in to the bottom of the bag even as I was bagging it. Now I have hung the whole bag in the garage where I will give it a couple more weeks to finish drying. 

After that simply bashing the bag should be all it takes to dislodge the remaining seed, which I will store in jars ready to be used as needed in Indian or Mexican dishes, or even in carrot and coriander soup.