# Coriander: Benefits, Uses and Precautions

> Coriander: benefits, composition, uses for digestion, how to prepare an infusion, harvesting and storing the fruits, contraindications and precautions.

- URL: https://celitel.online/en/blog/koriandr-pishchevarenie/
- Author: Dr. Boris Wydoff — https://celitel.online/en/about/
- Published: 2026-10-27
- Language: en

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an annual aromatic plant in the Apiaceae family, also known as cilantro. Fresh leaves are used in cooking, while mature fruits serve as a seasoning and a raw material for herbal preparations. According to herbal medicine references, the fruits have traditionally been used for bloating and spasms of the digestive tract. The plant contains essential and fixed oils, proteins, and mineral salts.

## What Is Coriander and How Can You Recognize It?

Coriander belongs to the Apiaceae family. It is a cultivated plant grown for its aromatic leaves and fruits. It originated in the Mediterranean region. Coriander was cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean in ancient times and later spread throughout Europe and other regions.

The plant grows to a height of 30–70 cm. It has a slender, spindle-shaped root. The stem is upright and round, with fine grooves. It is hollow inside and branches in its upper part.

The lower leaves grow closer to the base of the plant. They have short stalks and are divided into broad segments. The upper leaves grow directly on the stem. Their segments are narrower and often resemble fine threads.

The flowers are small, white or pinkish, and arranged in compound umbels. After flowering, round, brown fruits measuring 2–5 mm in diameter develop. Each fruit consists of two seeds joined together.

Coriander's smell changes as it ripens. Fresh leaves have a distinctive, strong aroma. Unripe fruits have a sharp smell, which botanical descriptions compare to the smell of bedbugs. As the fruits mature and dry, their aroma becomes more pleasant and develops spicy notes.

In everyday speech, the names "cilantro" and "coriander" often refer to different parts of the same plant. Cilantro usually means the fresh leaves, while coriander refers to the mature fruits used as a spice. Botanically, they are the same species.

Today, coriander is grown in many countries. In Russia, it is cultivated in regions including the Central Black Earth area, the Volga region, and the North Caucasus. The plant is used for more than cooking. Its fruits are a raw material for essential oil used in the food industry, perfumery, and cosmetics.

## What Does This Plant Contain?

The chemical composition of coriander fruits depends on growing conditions, variety, and the stage of plant development. That is why botanical and herbal medicine references report different figures.

According to herbal medicine references, the fruits contain proteins, fixed oil, mineral salts, and essential oil. One botanical description gives the fixed oil content as about 13% of the fruit's weight and the essential oil content as about 1%. The reference book by J. Grau gives different figures: approximately 15% protein and 20% fixed oil. These numbers come from different descriptions of the raw material.

One reference identifies linalool, also called coriandrol, as the main component of the essential oil. Pinene is also described as a minor component. In addition, triterpenoids, steroid compounds, phenolic acids, and coumarins have been found in the plant.

Fresh leaves and dried fruits differ in composition and use. Young leaves are mainly used as culinary greens. Mature fruits are valued for their distinctive aroma and essential oil content.

The presence of certain compounds in a plant does not, by itself, prove that it can treat a particular disease. Its composition explains coriander's aromatic qualities and its use in the food industry, but it does not automatically mean that the plant can cure illnesses.

## How Can Coriander Help with Digestion?

Herbal medicine references traditionally describe coriander fruits as a carminative remedy. They have been used for bloating and spasms in the gastrointestinal tract.

Carminatives are remedies used to relieve excessive gas buildup in the intestines. Older herbal medicine descriptions include coriander among aromatic plants used for this purpose. In particular, J. Grau's reference lists fennel, coriander, caraway, anise, peppermint, lemon balm, and valerian. According to this description, such plants should be included, at least in part, in teas intended to relieve gas.

This traditional use is associated primarily with coriander fruits. However, traditional use does not mean that the plant will necessarily relieve bloating or eliminate the cause of abdominal pain.

If you experience discomfort after eating, pay attention to how often it occurs, how severe it is, and whether you have other symptoms. Regular bloating and spasms need to be investigated to identify their cause. Severe pain, vomiting, or changes in bowel movements may also indicate a condition that requires medical assessment.

Coriander remains first and foremost a culinary plant with a long history of use. If you are considering it as an herbal remedy, remember that an ordinary seasoning is different from a concentrated preparation.

## What Other Traditional Uses Do Its Fruits Have?

Older herbals describe various ways of using coriander leaves and fruits. These accounts reflect traditional practices and should not be taken as universal medical recommendations.

**For appetite and digestion.** In her book, L. F. Savelyeva describes coriander greens as a remedy traditionally used to stimulate appetite and improve digestion. In everyday cooking, the leaves are added to dishes for their distinctive flavor and aroma.

**For bloating and spasms.** J. Grau's reference lists mature coriander fruits among the remedies used for bloating and spasms of the digestive tract. The fruits are used for this purpose, rather than arbitrary amounts of fresh leaves.

**As a spice.** This is one of the plant's most common uses. Fresh leaves are added to salads, soups, and other dishes. The fruits are used to flavor bread, cheese, sausages, sauces, marinades, and preserved foods.

**In the food industry.** Coriander is used in the production of certain types of bread, confectionery, sausages, canned meat and vegetables, beer, and sauces. The fruits are also used to prepare adjika, satsebeli, and tkemali. Essential oil serves as a raw material for aromatic ingredients used in perfumery and cosmetics.

L. F. Savelyeva's book also describes the traditional use of coriander greens for bad breath and bleeding gums. This does not mean that coriander addresses the underlying cause of these symptoms. If your gums bleed repeatedly or you have persistent bad breath, see a dentist.

If you have diabetes, blood pressure problems, heart disease, thyroid disease, asthma, peptic ulcers, or cancer, you can consider coriander as a culinary seasoning, provided you tolerate it. If you are considering a medicinal infusion or another concentrated preparation, discuss its use with your doctor. It should only be used as an addition to prescribed treatment: do not stop or change your medications on your own.

## How Can You Use This Spice in Everyday Cooking?

Different parts of coriander work well in different dishes. Fresh leaves and mature fruits have distinct aromas, so they cannot always be used interchangeably.

Young leaves are added to vegetable salads, soups, and sauces. L. F. Savelyeva's book notes that the leaves are used in a wide variety of dishes. The amount depends on the recipe and personal taste.

Mature dried fruits can be used whole or ground. They flavor bread, certain types of cheese and sausage, marinades, sauces, and preserved foods. Coriander is also used in the production of beer and alcoholic beverages.

This spice is included in recipes for traditional sauces, including adjika, satsebeli, and tkemali. The ingredients in each dish depend on regional traditions and the recipe you choose.

When used in food, coriander is treated like an ordinary seasoning. If you have never tried this spice before, pay attention to how you tolerate it. If you have a known coriander allergy, avoid it.

Essential oil deserves special attention. It is a concentrate of aromatic compounds and differs from fresh leaves and dried fruits. Using it is not the same as adding a spice to food. Do not take essential oil by mouth on your own as a home remedy.

## How to Prepare Coriander Infusion Properly

If you are wondering how to prepare an infusion of coriander, there is a specific method using the fruits. It is described in J. Grau's reference book.

The instructions call for **1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander fruits** to prepare an infusion. The description does not specify the exact amount of water, its temperature, or the steeping time. For this reason, you should not add arbitrary measurements and present them as recommendations from the reference.

If you want to use coriander for medicinal purposes, discuss it with a healthcare professional first. This method reflects the plant's traditional use, but it does not establish a suitable dose for every person.

Herbal references also describe multi-ingredient carminative teas. These may contain various aromatic plants, including fennel, anise, caraway, peppermint, lemon balm, and valerian. The ingredients and proportions of a particular blend matter. You should not replace ingredients arbitrarily or transfer dosages from one recipe to another.

For everyday use, it is preferable to use coriander as a culinary seasoning if you have no allergy or other individual restrictions. Medicinal infusions and concentrated preparations require a separate safety assessment.

## How to Harvest and Store the Seeds

Mature coriander fruits are traditionally harvested for herbal preparations. They are collected separately from the fresh greens. When harvesting, it is important to wait until the fruits are ripe, dry the raw material properly, and remove foreign matter.

The fruits do not all ripen at the same time. If you wait until every umbel is fully ripe, some of the harvest may fall off and be lost.

According to descriptions of medicinal plant harvesting, coriander tops are cut when about half of the fruits have dried. The plants are then tied into bundles or sheaves and hung in a dry room. During further drying, the remaining fruits continue to ripen. The sheaves are then threshed.

To reduce losses, fruits of plants in the Apiaceae family are traditionally harvested early in the morning, before the dew has evaporated, or in damp weather. Dry, ripe fruits fall off easily, so timing matters.

After threshing, the raw material is cleaned to remove dust, pieces of stems, and other foreign matter. The fruits are then dried further. Pharmacopoeial standards cited in A. F. Gammmerman's reference specify a maximum moisture content of 13% for coriander. This is a quality standard for medicinal raw material, not a guide for determining whether home-dried supplies are ready without appropriate testing.

Store the fruits in a dry place protected from moisture and contamination. Do not use raw material that shows signs of mold, spoilage, or an unusual smell.

If you grow coriander in your garden, decide in advance which part of the plant you want to harvest. You can cut fresh leaves for cooking as needed. To collect the fruits, you need to wait until they ripen and take their tendency to fall off into account.

## How to Find Coriander Abroad

In the United States and Europe, coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is most often sold as dried fruits, commonly called seeds. When shopping, be careful not to confuse them with the plant's leaves.

**What the plant is called in different countries:**
- **United States:** coriander or coriander seed for the seeds; cilantro for the fresh leaves.
- **Germany:** Koriander, Koriandersamen, or Korianderfrüchte for the seeds and fruits; Korianderkraut for the greens.
- **France:** coriandre, graines de coriandre, or fruits de coriandre for the seeds and fruits; coriandre fraîche for the fresh greens.

**Forms in which it is sold:**
- Whole or crushed dried seeds and ground spice.
- Tea bags or loose blends for brewing.
- Capsules, tablets, tinctures, and liquid extracts.
- Dried leaves, which are less common.

**Where to look:** spice and tea shops, health food stores, supermarkets, and online stores. In Germany, you can ask at a pharmacy (Apotheke); in France, try a pharmacy (pharmacie) or an herbalist's shop (herboristerie).

**What to check on the package:** the Latin name, plant part, product form, country of origin, expiration date, and allergen information. If you are allergic to celery, carrots, parsley, or fennel, are pregnant, or take medications, consult a healthcare professional.

**Important:** sales regulations vary by country. In the United States, dietary supplements do not undergo FDA premarket approval for safety and effectiveness, while in Germany and France, medicinal herbal products and ordinary food products are regulated differently.

## What Are the Contraindications, and When Should You Be Careful?

Coriander is widely used as a culinary spice. However, using it in food is not the same as taking concentrated extracts. The safety of an ordinary seasoning cannot automatically be assumed for medicinal doses or essential oil.

**Allergies.** If you have a known coriander allergy, you should not consume it. People who are allergic to other plants that can cause cross-reactions should also be cautious. Possible cross-reactive allergens include anise, fennel, caraway, celery, dill, and mugwort. Reactions may include itching, hives, or swelling of the lips and mouth. Difficulty breathing requires emergency medical attention.

**Pregnancy and breastfeeding.** Using coriander in food is different from taking medicinal doses or concentrated preparations. Consult your doctor before using an infusion or extract during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

**Children.** Using coriander as a seasoning is different from using medicinal preparations. One European reference-based approach recommends avoiding coriander preparations in children under 12 years of age. Seek professional advice before giving herbal remedies to a child.

**Diabetes.** If you take insulin or other blood sugar-lowering medications, concentrated coriander preparations require caution. They may further lower blood glucose levels. Discuss with your doctor whether your blood glucose needs to be monitored. Do not change the doses of prescribed medications on your own.

**Low blood pressure and blood pressure medications.** If you tend to have low blood pressure or take medications that lower it, discuss medicinal use of coriander with your doctor beforehand. It may have an additional effect on blood pressure.

**Sedatives.** If you take medications that cause drowsiness, ask your doctor whether they can be combined with herbal preparations. Do not try to test the compatibility of concentrated products on your own.

**Planned surgery.** Safety recommendations suggest stopping medicinal use of coriander at least two weeks before surgery because it may affect blood sugar control. Tell your surgeon and anesthesiologist in advance about all herbal preparations you use.

**Essential oil.** It is much more concentrated than fresh leaves or dried fruits. Do not take it internally on your own. Applying it to the skin may cause irritation, burning, itching, or contact dermatitis.

Using coriander as a regular food seasoning and taking concentrated preparations involve different risk profiles. The absence of reported interactions in certain references does not prove that interactions are impossible. You should also not assume that coriander can remove heavy metals from the body: there is no clinical evidence confirming such an effect.

## When Do You Need a Doctor?

Coriander should not be a reason to delay an examination or replace prescribed treatment. If bloating and spasms occur regularly, become more severe, or are accompanied by other symptoms, you need to find out what is causing them.

Seek medical attention for severe or worsening abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, blood in the stool, marked weakness, or unexplained weight loss. Sudden, severe pain requires urgent assessment.

If you develop a rash or swelling of the lips or tongue after consuming coriander, stop contact with the product and seek medical attention. Breathing difficulties or rapidly worsening swelling require emergency care.

Consult your doctor before using medicinal infusions if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, planning surgery, taking medications, or living with a chronic condition. Children should not be given medicinal coriander preparations without professional advice.

It is especially important to discuss herbal remedies in advance if you have diabetes, tend to have low blood pressure, or take sedatives. A concentrated preparation may have different effects and risks from an ordinary culinary seasoning.

If you want to use coriander for a chronic condition, consider it only as a possible addition to your prescribed treatment. Discuss its use with your doctor and do not stop prescribed medications on your own.

## From the Editors

This article is based on botanical and herbal medicine references describing the composition, traditional uses, and harvesting of coriander. The material is for informational purposes only and does not replace a doctor's consultation, diagnosis, or individualized medical advice.

## FAQ

**Q: What exactly is coriander?**
A: Coriander is an annual plant in the Apiaceae family, grown for its aromatic greens and mature fruits.

**Q: What are the benefits of coriander, and what are its medicinal properties?**
A: Herbal medicine references traditionally describe coriander fruits as a carminative remedy for bloating and spasms of the digestive tract.

**Q: What beneficial substances and vitamins does coriander contain?**
A: The fruits contain essential and fixed oils, proteins, mineral salts, linalool, and other plant compounds.

**Q: How do you prepare coriander infusion?**
A: J. Grau's reference describes an infusion made with 1/2 teaspoon of ground fruits. The exact amount of water and steeping time are not specified.

**Q: Who should avoid coriander, and who should be cautious when using it?**
A: Caution is needed if you have an allergy to coriander or certain other plants, are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medications, or use concentrated preparations.

**Q: Can you add coriander to food every day?**
A: Coriander is used as a culinary seasoning. If you have a known allergy to it, you should not consume it.

**Q: At what age can children be given coriander?**
A: Using it in food is different from medicinal use. One European reference-based approach recommends avoiding coriander preparations in children under 12 years of age.

**Q: What does coriander treat, and can it replace medication?**
A: The fruits have traditionally been used for bloating and spasms, but this does not prove that they cure diseases. Coriander does not replace prescribed treatment, and medicinal doses should be discussed with a doctor.


_Educational content; it does not replace medical advice._