How to Harvest Cilantro Without Killing the Plant – Cilantro Pro Tips!

Here’s how to harvest cilantro without killing the plant! Harvest your cilantro the right way and your plant will keep producing continually, right through spring and summer. There’s nothing like growing your own fresh cilantro to add to all those yummy dishes you’re cooking!

Harvesting Cilantro Without Killing the Plant

So, how to harvest cilantro without killing the plant? Here are some pro tips. When harvested from the top third of the plant with a sharp tool, cilantro provides ample, tender, fragrant greens. Every week! From late spring to late summer. But – never harvest cilantro by tugging at the plant’s base.

Harvesting by cutting the top third of the plant prolongs the plant’s life! Water, mulch, and then drain well. And choose the right location and cilantro variety for your climate.

Cropping Cilantro

Cilantro originated in the Mediterranean and India. (Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, 1992, Sarah Bunney.) The fresh and green parts are high in Vitamin K and contain Vitamin C. The seeds are higher in minerals and fatty acids. Right now, I am talking about harvesting the green parts – the cilantro leaves and stalks. 

Cropping cilantro or coriander leaves (known as cilantro for this article) will prolong the life’s plant if done correctly.

Harvest only the top third of your cilantro plant, leaving the bottom two-thirds to form new leaves. Make sure at least half the previous amount of leaves get left. Not just stalk! Your hard-working herb needs enough leaves to keep growing and make you some more!

Harvest Cilantro Regularly

Leaving cilantro to grow unchecked while you go on a long vacation does you and your herb no favors – your cilantro will bolt like a caffeinated racehorse! 

It will produce some frothy white flowers, and those previously tender leaves and stems will be too scarce and challenging to harvest. 

You can, however, eat those flowers in salads. Or leave them to produce coriander spice seed. We love coriander spice seed! It’s lovely – and very storable.

Harvest Cilantro Using Sharp Scissors

Use nice sharp, clean scissors to harvest cilantro leaves – don’t yank them out – as you may well uproot the whole herb, roots, and all. If you do this, it will be off to the garden center for replacement cilantro. (Though you can try to replant it and hope it recovers with a good watering.) I often remind my hyperactive seven-year-old son of this principle when gardening!

Read More – How to Grow and Harvest Lima Beans from Seed!

Harvest Cilantro from Mid-July

Regularly harvest leaves and stalks from mid-July onwards. Keep harvesting cilantro. Continue cropping the tender and spicy green parts until cold weather comes and plant growth slows. You should be able to harvest once a week and possibly twice (if your plant is as vigorous as an international footballer!) for most of the warm season.

Watering Your Cilantro Plant

Keep your cilantro bed well watered! Cilantro is a herb that loves moisture – not so much as mint, but you want to keep it feeling fresh and loved. Use moisture retaining compost or water storage granules if your cilantro is in containers, as these dry out much quicker.

Also, make sure your cilantro has good drainage! I find holes poked in the bottom, and a few centimeters of gravel or crocks (smashed bits of pottery) will do for containers.

Mulch Where Possible

Covering the soil around your plants with straw helps reflect strong sunlight and slows evaporation. If your cilantro keeps trying to reach for the sky and flower early, it may need more moisture in the soil.

I push a finger in the garden soil under the cilantro, down to the depth of my nail (roughly one centimeter). If you can’t feel the garden soil getting damper, it’s time to water your cilantro babies.

Growing Cilantro in Part-Shade

For leafy greens, grow cilantro in part-shade. Cilantro loves growing in the shade – especially if you live in a hot climate. Plant it where it will get early morning or late afternoon sun. (Those living near the Arctic circle may want to adopt this advice and plant in whatever sun you have.) 

If it is seeds that you most desire, by all means, plant them in full sun, where the cilantro seeds are going to get produced and ripen much faster.

Read More – How to Harvest and Dry Elderberries!

Cilantro Cultivars

Choose the best cilantro variety. The Royal Horticultural Society recommends Leafy Leisure and Cruiser for big crops of large cilantro leaves, if that’s what you’re into, rather than coriander seed. (Cruiser is also a market leader for commercially grown cilantro.) 

If you’re wondering why your cilantro is growing tall and upright while your neighbor‘s batch is thick and bushy, it might be the variety that is the issue. Confetti and Santo are both cilantro types that grow tall rather than wide. Their elongated and upright growing nature doesn’t mean they are any worse than their bushier compatriots – but they look and taste different. It depends on what pleases your eye. And your palate!

Cilantro Spacing

Spacing is another reason for skinny cilantro. Have you left your plants enough room to spread out comfortably? Are they being shunted out of essential nutrients, water, or light by other plants, trees, or weeds? Sow thickly at first in late spring for leaf crops, but thin them out to a hand’s width apart for the seeds later (p176, Bob Flowerdew’s Organic Gardening Bible, 2012, Kyle Books) 

So what can you do to store and preserve cut cilantro?

Here are a few different ways of saving those lovely tender, aromatic leaves for cooking your South Asian-inspired dishes.

Managing Your Cilantro and Coriander Post-Harvest!

What’s the best thing to do after you harvest your cilantro and coriander?

We have a few strategies to help you get the most from your harvest.

Sound good?

Let’s continue!

Freezing Cilantro

Freezing them works best when you don’t mind if it is pretty cilantro because when it defrosts, it will be ugly cilantro! It will turn into yellow-green mush. But it’s still okay if you’re planning on mincing it up or adding it to a sauce. 

If you want to freeze your cilantro harvest, follow these steps. 

1. Rinse well. 
2. Then blanch (dunk) it in boiling water for a couple of seconds before dunking it in ice-cold water. 
3. Dry it thoroughly on paper towels before freezing in a plastic bag or Tupperware container.
4. (You can also dry on a baking sheet.)

Cilantro Stems

We love standing the cut stems in water. If a perky, attractive-looking garnish is what you need (or if, like me, you live off-grid on a boat and choose not to use refrigeration for environmental / just plain stingy reasons), then stand your bunch of cilantro in a glass of water. 

I have done this with many cut vegetable stems, as you would do with a bunch of flowers. As far as your cut vegetation is concerned, it is still alive! If you are posh and have an actual fridge (ooh la la), place the glass of cilantro inside, with a plastic bag secured by elastic over the leaves.

Mincing Your Cilantro Harvest

You can also mince up your cilantro finely and mix it with olive oil. (Like a pesto!) 

Here’s how.

Put a 0.5-centimeter oil layer over the top of your cilantro oil mix. You don’t want to expose it to bacteria in the air. Store it in a jar, or freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray.

Making Cilantro Salt

Mince finely in a blender and mix with salt, preferably decent salt such as sea salt or Himalayan rock salt, as the big rough flakes help break up the cilantro. The cilantro salt will keep for up to a year in the fridge! (Here’s a lovely recipe for cilantro and lime salt at Whole Lifestyle Nutrition.)

Cilantro Drying! WARNING! 

One last word about drying cilantro! Don’t even bother trying to dry cilantro greens! Unlike the seeds, the leaves and stems lose their scent and flavor once dried. More information on this in the comments!

Read More – How to Harvest Tomatoes at the Best Possible Time!

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to take scissors to your fresh cilantro plants. For cilantro harvesting, it’s the same as getting a haircut! As we all know, cutting does wonders for your hair. 

So – go out there and harvest your first crop of cilantro greens. And have fun cooking up some fabulous cilantro-flavored meals!

What about you?

How frequently do you harvest cilantro?

Or – maybe you have a little-known cilantro harvesting trick?

We’d love to hear your thoughts either way.

Thanks so much for reading.

And – have a great day!

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