SciShow - a science show on YouTube - did a study of 30,000 people and asked what coriander tasted like to them. And the results showed a surprising common thread between those who hated it. ‘Subjects who said that cilantro made salsa taste like bubble bath had similarities in a cluster of smell receptor genes that–surprise–detect the smell of soap,’ says Sci Show host Hank Green.
‘They tended to share one gene in particular which codes for the receptor that picks up the scent of aldehyde chemicals....There is more than one aldehyde responsible for giving cilantro its distinctive smell and they also happen to be a byproduct of soap making.’
And while not everyone who has the gene dislikes coriander, scientists say it’s a surprising result. We couldn’t agree more. Now, who wants some soap on their taco?!
