Many recipes tell you to use 1 "bunch of cilantro" but how much cilantro is in a bunch? It can be hard to know what that really means. Different stores carry different sizes of cilantro bunches and many people grow their own cilantro as well so their "bunch" will be whatever they decide on. This makes it hard to know how much to actually use.
In order to figure out how much is a bunch of cilantro we went to several grocery stores and saw what they thought a "bunch of cilantro" actually was. We determined that a grocery store "bunch of cilantro" weighed 2.8 ounces for our measurements. That much cilantro comes to about 93 sprigs of cilantro in the bunch.
So for our tests we used a 2.8 ounce bunch of cilantro to determine how many "cilantro bunches" you need to get a specific amount of chopped cilantro leaves. We discovered that there is about 3/4 cup of packed cilantro leaves in a bunch, 1 cup of chopped cilantro leaves in a bunch, and 1 and 1/2 cups of loose cilantro leaves in a bunch.
Did you know that cilantro is actually the leaves from a coriander plant while "coriander" refers to the dried seeds of the same plant. Cilantro is native to southern Europe and the western Mediterranean region and is one of the oldest spices mentioned in history.
So we now know that "How much is in a bunch of cilantro" is about 2.8 ounces of cilantro. If you are buying from the grocery store you can check the weight on the scale there and if you are growing your own cilantro you can just use a kitchen scale to measure it. We recommend this one which we use at home and enjoy: Oxo Good Grips Food Scale. To determine how many 2.8 ounce bunches of cilantro you need to get the correct amount of chopped cilantro leaves you can use the converter below.
Cilantro is also commonly known as Coriander, or Chinese Parsley.
Snip off the bottom of the unwashed cilantro stems. Fill a jar or a water glass partially with water; place the stem ends of the herbs into the water in the container. Store the jar of cilantro in the refrigerator, cover loosely with a plastic bag. Change the water after several days if the water starts to discolor. Fresh cilantro can last up to 2 weeks or longer when stored this way.
To freeze: remove the leaves and discard the cilantro stems. Fill every ice cube cavity of an ice cube tray with the cilantro leafs, then completely top off with water. Place in the freezer for 2 days; remove the cilantro cubes and transfer them into a freezer Ziploc bag. Store the Ziploc bag in the freezer for 2 months and use as needed.
To dry: Bundle the cilantro by the stems; tie the bundle with a rubber band. Poke holes every 2 inches in a medium size brown paper bag to provide air circulation. Put the bundle of cilantro in the paper bag; tie the end of the bag closed. Place the paper bag in the basement for about a week until the leaves are dry enough to fall lose from the stems. Store the dried leafs in an air tight glass jar for 6 to 8 months.
One of the biggest hassles when cooking and working in the kitchen is when a recipe calls for "the juice of 1 lime" or a similar measurement. Often times when cooking people use bottled juices, pre-sliced vegetables and other convenient cooking time savers. Produce Converter will help you convert the "juice of 1 lime" and other similar recipe instructions into tablespoons, cups and other concrete measurements.
Produce Converter can also be used to figure out how many vegetables to buy when you need, for instance, "A cup of diced onion." You can use our easy conversion tool to figure out exactly how many onions you need to buy at the store in order to end up with the amount you need for your cooking.
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