Lemongrass

This is a good video on growing and cooking with lemongrass. It's used in Asian cooking so you might find it in an Asian market or Asian food section of the grocery store/farmers market.

I've grown it from seeds. I'm in Zone 9B where it dies back in winter but some of the interior stalks of the cluster grow the next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0FYA9lfrR0

All of the lemongrass in these pictures came from a few pieces from a Ranch 99 marketplace. I didn't have drip watering at the time, and some of them died. But two or 3 survived. And now ... well, you see.

Picture 1: I was tired of fighting weeds in my non-SFG planter, and planted lemongrass. Now I can fight lemongrass:


Picture 2: I threw two SFG boxes together just before Covid using civic compost. When things didn't seem to be doing so well, I thought maybe there was Grazon. Well, grass will grow in grazon, and lemongrass is a grass.


Basically, it's like the field of dreams of herbs. If you water it, it will grow.

Yet it hasn't flowered, so I wouldn't consider it invasive. Just pushy.

It hasn't turned out as useful as I thought, I'm always befuddled figuring out which part of the stem I actually use for cooking (It can be very fibrous).

Edit: That video is great! I think I'm going to try some lemongrass in tonight's stir fry.

markqz wrote:All of the lemongrass in these pictures came from a few pieces from a Ranch 99 marketplace. I didn't have drip watering at the time, and some of them died. But two or 3 survived. And now ... well, you see.

. . .  I was tired of fighting weeds in my non-SFG planter, and planted lemongrass. Now I can fight lemongrass: . . .

I threw two SFG boxes together just before Covid using civic compost. When things didn't seem to be doing so well, I thought maybe there was Grazon. Well, grass will grow in grazon, and lemongrass is a grass.
. . .
Basically, it's like the field of dreams of herbs. If you water it, it will grow.

Yet it hasn't flowered, so I wouldn't consider it invasive. Just pushy.

It hasn't turned out as useful as I thought, I'm always befuddled figuring out which part of the stem I actually use for cooking (It can be very fibrous).

Edit: That video is great! I think I'm going to try some lemongrass in tonight's stir fry.

I thought that video was really helpful.  Even as an aroma I think I will try it.  Chicken soup to start. ?  After you beat and mince, let us know how it is.

I continued to grow it because grandpup loved it.  Every time she visited, she made a bee-line through the maze.  Now I grow it in her honor.

Lemongrass Tea is really good, too.  We have to grow the Lemongrass inside during the winter here in the northland, but it is nice to be able to cut off a stalk, cut it up, and make a cup of hot tea. Supposed to be very healthful in addition to tasting & smelling good. A word of warning, though, is that lemongrass tea is a diuretic, so don't drink more than a cup a day until you get used to it.  Going to try growing it in the greenhouse this winter, but won't move all of it in there the first time.

I'll see if I can find a link to the original article I found on making Lemongrass Tea to post if anyone is interested.

OG, Have you ever made anything with the lemongrass?
Waiting for Mark's review.

sanderson wrote:OG,  Have you ever made anything with the lemongrass?

Other than Lemongrass Tea, the only thing I make with it is using it to marinade chicken to create Lemongrass Chicken. That is great!  I only use the lower white parts of the Lemongrass stalk. But, as fast as it grows, there is no way to use all of the stalks.

A friend of mine that runs a hydroponics store turned me on to Lemongrass, and is always trying to convince me to try other recipes with it. But, with so many fresh vegetables from our gardens trying new recipes doesn't stand much of a chance.   He is the one that gave me a start of the plants - he said the germination rate of the seeds is really poor, only about 5% to 10% of the seeds germinate.

sanderson wrote:Waiting for Mark's review.

Oh! Sorry! The lemongrass was received well by my audience of one. I used it in stir-fry along with onion, zucchini, peppers on a bed of cooked buckwheat. Topped with air-fried tofu cubes.

I did take a picture of the prepared meal, though you can't really see the lemongrass. I think I should have included a few pieces of lemongrass stalks for the look, just like how they include jalapenos with some dishes, but you would be insane to eat them.



I tried the chopping-on-a-slant thing which was a variation of how I usually cut it. It may be that the pieces I got were older and stiffer ... I always feel it is a bit fibrous. But if you chop it finely enough that's ok. I then minced those resulting pieces.  

I would have to take it out to the garage to do the "thumping" she does in the video, and maybe that's what I'll try next time.

Also, her knife most be very sharp and she's definitely more skilled at rapid mincing than I am. I would probably be putting a bit too much of myself into my cooking if I tried to chop like that.

I've been using the outer leaves mostly for instant mulch, but maybe I'll start saving some for additional flavoring.

She mentioned that the leaves are sharp, but I find I can handle them without gloves most of the time. They're not like pampas grass (which really is invasive).

OhioGardener wrote:I'll see if I can find a link to the original article I found on making Lemongrass Tea to post if anyone is interested.

I would be interested, or whatever the details are for how you make it (like how long to boil). I'm thinking that lemongrass and ginger would go really well together.

OhioGardener wrote:he said the germination rate of the seeds is really poor, only about 5% to 10% of the seeds germinate.

Ha! I think my plants are close to 3 years now, and haven't even flowered. It may be that they're like apples, always made from cuttings. So the lemongrass in my yard may be a clone of the one the woman was growing in the video, and even of one growing in a greenhouse somewhere in Ohio.

Thank you for the humorous write up. Yes, that lady is a whiz with the knife. You know that baby was sharp!! I have been told to peel off the leaves and just use the inner white core. Could you find the "core"? I need to grow it again. It was in a pot for several years and was so thick I couldn't add more compost.

On a delicate note, did the minced lemon grass provide too much roughage?

sanderson wrote:I have been told to peel off the leaves and just use the inner white core.  Could you find the "core"?

Well that's the problem I've always had. Finding the core is like finding the corner of a round room, or a distance that's "the length of a string".

I think effectively you want peel off the outer dead-ish leaves. And cut off the bottom inch just above the root-start. Then chop up the next 6 inches or so. That's the approach she seemed to be using in the video, so I feel vindicated.

sanderson wrote:On a delicate note, did the minced lemon grass provide too much roughage?

No, I don't think so. I think you would have to use a half dozen stalks before it would be an issue. I only used one thick piece, but only because of time restraints.

Obviously I need to be using this more:

That's some expensive lemon grass. $7.99 a pound I'm guessing. Surely not per stalk, even in CA.

I think you found your cash crop.

sanderson wrote:That's some expensive lemon grass.  $7.99 a pound I'm guessing.  Surely not per stalk, even in CA.

I think you found your cash crop.  

If you can sell it to our local health food grocery store, it will be a real CASH CROP. They sell some for $3.33 an ounce, which comes out to $53.28 per pound. Can't help but wonder if that was a pricing error.

Holy cow!! Where's that packet of lemongrass seeds!