Cilantro is an easy-to-grow herb for the culinary herb garden. When it flowers, it provides nectar and pollen for pollinators and beneficial insects. Even better: Saving cilantro (coriander) seed is super-easy! Here’s how to do it.
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Cilantro is an Eager Volunteer
How often do you get volunteer edible plants in your yard? Tomatoes and squash are some of the most popular. Volunteer crops are good; saving their (free) seed is even better! Growing cilantro is an easy herb from which to save the seeds. This year cilantro volunteered itself in the strawberry berm in our edible front yard, and I wanted to take full advantage of it. So I set out to save some of the seeds.
Flowering cilantro in the strawberry bed.
Cilantro and Coriander
Hey, did you know that cilantro and coriander refer to the same plant? Cilantro refers to the leaves (the herb), while coriander refers to the seed (the spice). I use cilantro leaves in salsa and Thai-inspired dishes, and I like growing coriander seed for use as a spice powder in curry dishes.
This spent cilantro plant is finished flowering and shows clusters of dried seed heads.
Rub the seed heads gently between two fingers and the seeds drop easily.
Would you like to learn more about growing herbs for the kitchen, the medicine cabinet, and for the pollinators? How about simple seed saving?
You’ll find loads of information just like this in my book, The Suburban Micro-Farm.
Growing Cilantro
Plant cilantro seeds in the spring. Cilantro likes the cooler spring and fall weather, and those are the best times to harvest the leaves. In the hot days of summer, it will flower and then go to seed.
The plant is in the carrot family, and the carrot family flower is an umbel – an umbrella shape with a mass of tiny flowers. The flower is a favorite of beneficial insects – tachinid flies, hoverflies and parasitoid wasps.
When I discovered I had cilantro growing voluntarily this spring I harvested some and then let the plants grow to about 3 feet tall and flower because watching it swarm with the beneficial insects is reassuring, knowing that they’ll do my gardening work for me.
When the plants die back, save the coriander seed–some for the spice rack and some to plant next year. You don’t need to grow a lot of cilantro to reap a decent amount of coriander seed.
My harvest of cilantro/coriander seed from two volunteer plants. Free seeds for many years to come!
It’s a good rule of thumb to wait a few days after a rain before harvesting so the seed has a chance to dry out sufficiently and will store properly without getting moldy.
Easy harvest and free seeds for many years to come!
Need more ideas for growing and using herbs?
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What seeds do you enjoy saving from your garden?
Audrey says
I tried pickling a few green coriander seeds. They were delicious. I think it is just the USA that calls the plant cilantro, most other Enlglish speaking countries call the whole plant coriander.
Amy says
Wow, I’ve never had pickled coriander seeds, but that’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Paul says
Let me second the use of green corriander seeds. Makes coconut rice really
sing. So good with fish too.
Also, when planting corriander/cilantr seed always crack the seeds with a rolling pin. Yhe round seeds is actually a seed pod containing two smaller seeds. Germinates so mych better when cracked.
jill says
When I harvest the seeds from my cilantro plants should I store them in a jar or in the fridge? (Minnesota)
Amy says
Once your seeds are positively 100% dry, I would store them in an airtight jar in a dry, dark, cool place. You want a consistent temperature (such as that of a basement) for longevity. Because the refrigerator is opened frequently, temperatures—as well as moisture levels—can fluctuate and thus reduce the long-term viability of your seeds.
I have a nice section about storing seeds in my book, The Suburban Micro-Farm, if you’d like more seed storing tips!
Leslie says
Coriander seed is used a lot in Indian cooking…that is my main use of the seed I dry.