Fruits (“seeds”) of coriander.
MANNA AND SALSA? WHAT DO these two foods from different epochs and different cultures have in common? Coriander. Salsa contains the leaves of coriander while manna resembles coriander.
The Children of Israel were presented with a heavenly food, something they had never before seen. How would they describe it? By linking it to something they knew, in this case coriander: “The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31, NIV); and, “The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin” (Numbers 11:7, NIV).
Coriander is a widely grown annual crop in the Middle East and highly valued as a spice in Arab cooking. The seed (technically a fruit), when ground, is also used as a spice. More familiar to many are the leaves of the coriander plant, which are known as cilantro. There are several races of this widely cultivated crop used for the fruits (coriander) or for the leaves (cilantro). Cilantro is an ingredient of salsa and other Spanish and Mexican dishes. The two condiments, cilantro and coriander, are products of different subspecies of Coriandrum sativum (Diederichsen and Hammer 2003).
Though coriander is a familiar crop, it is not certain whether the word translated as coriander in connection with manna is the same plant because of the color (“white”) and the appearance (“like resin”), which are at odds with at least the modern-day coriander.
Field of coriander in flower in May, in the village of Jdeidet, Syria, where coriander is an important cash crop.
Manna, the miraculous food provided in the desert, is included in both the Bible and Quran descriptions of the wanderings in the wilderness: “And [God] made the cloud spread shade over you, and sent for you manna and quails” (Sura 2:57, Ali).
The exact nature of manna is unknown. Perhaps the easiest explanation is that it was simply a divine provision, miraculously given. Or rather than being supernal, some Bible scholars have suggested that it may have been the exudate of a desert plant (Zohary 1982, Farooqi 2003). I have not seen these exudates, at least in desert plants. Looking like “resin” could support that view. More problematic is the relationship between the appearance of manna and the appearance of coriander seed. Coriander, at least the types now grown, has brown rather than white fruits.
Because it is linked with manna, the bread from Heaven, coriander is a well-known Bible plant and is grown on a significant scale in the Middle East today. As for many Bible plants, dogmatism as to which plant is actually implied from the text should be avoided.
