Beans and Lima Beans

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Beans and Lima Beans is such a modest name for a dish that punches so much flavor. It is one of my dad's favorites and he says the smell is "nostalgic." When it was heated up, after my Nani and I made it for the first time, he just inhaled deeply. The addition of fresh spices, like ginger and garlic, adds to this signature aromatic intensity, as do the two forms, powdered and fresh, of coriander (cilantro). Coriander is a plant in the parsley family, Apiaceae, that produces small, round, light brown seeds and the more well known flat lobed leaves. The toasted seeds, from which the powder is made, have a fresh spicy flavor, while the leaves have a citrusy taste that to some reads soapy due to an aldehyde content that only some contain the ability to detect.

The organic compounds that give coriander leave's their distinctive flavor are 82% aldehyde and only 17% alcohol. Of the aldehydes present most are six to ten carbon. These variants of aldehydes, as well as others, are also present in soap and some even stick bug secretion. However, many people don't detect these rather disgusting flavors at all. The secret is, surprisingly, genetic. There is a group of genes, one specifically, that have been implicated in encoding a receptor that is highly sensitive to aldehydes. Those with these genes, therefore, are more likely to be put off by coriander leaves.

In this dish both the crushed seeds from the coriander plant and the chopped leaves are used. So will coriander haters taste soap? Luckily no! Crushing, or in this case chopping, the leaves speed up the enzymatic reaction that breaks down aldehydes. In this recipe, you also add the fresh leaves to a heated mixture, and heat is also known to aid in quickening enzymatic reactions (but not too much heat, or your enzymes, proteins, will denature). As for the seeds, an alcohol called linalool surpasses aldehydes for highest chemical content. Therefore those bothered by the aldehyde flavor should not be put off.

So Coriander haters (and lovers) rejoice, this recipe is delicious (spice warning: it's got a kick, yogurt, and paratha or chapati are recommended)


References:

Andy Brunning/Compound Intrest. "Why Can Coriander Taste Soapy? - The Chemistry of Coriander." Compound Intrest. Accessed May 31, 2019 https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/02/25/why-can-coriander-taste-soapy-the-chemistry-of-coriander/.
Coriander

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York, NY: Scribner, 1984.
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