Herb of the Month: Lemongrass

Lemongrass has got to be one of my favorite flavors. If there is lemongrass it, I love it – soup, tea, candy, essential oils, candles shampoo, or soap. Just the lemony smell transcends me to a happy place.

Lemongrass is easy to grow. You can grow it in a large pot or directly into the ground. Lemongrass is like any type of tall ornamental grass. Lemongrass grows tall and beautiful. Similar to Pampas Grass or Feather Reed Grass without the plumes and with so many benefits.

Health Benefits

My dear friend came into my garden, and the first thing he said was, Fever Grass! First time for me hearing lemongrass referred to as Fever Grass. Growing up in Jamaica, his mother would steep lemongrass in hot water to make a fever reducing tea. I know I would drink it even if I did not have a fever.

Other health benefits of lemongrass is to help with inflammation, improve digestion, help with anxiety and depression. As well as, regulates cholesterol and Type-2 diabetes, and so much more. Lemongrass is very safe, but check with your doctor or nutritionist before using lemongrass. Also, look into any rare side effects or allergic reactions.

Uses

I have made my own essential oil using lemongrass and sage to use in a diffuser. My primary use of lemongrass is for soup and tea. Some say the only edible part of the lemongrass plant is the bulb. This may be true since it is the most tender part; however, the stalks and leaves are just as amazing.

Check out the blog post on Herbal Tea that describes one way to use the leaves for making lemongrass tea. You can also make tea by steeping the entire stalk. It is nice to know the entire plant has its uses. For me, I freeze my lemongrass stalks to use it throughout the year.

You can use the entire stalk to make a soup base. Below is one of my favorite soup bases from Gordon Ramsay, but slightly altered by me. This particular soup base was for a delicious Szechuan Chicken Breast and Udon Noodles dish. The recipe below is for the soup base only. You can use your favorite noodle and any type of protein or veggies you desire.

Soup Base (Broth)

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Ingredients

• 3 cups of chicken stock (or 4 cups of Vegetable Stock if keeping it vegan)

• 1 cup roasted chicken juices (omit this to keep it vegan)**

• 1 large lemongrass stalk (roughly chopped)

• 1 1/2 to 2 inch piece of ginger (roughly chopped)

• 1/4 bunch cilantro, plus 3 sprigs of cilantro

• 4 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp rick wine vinegar

• 2 tsp sesame oil

**NOTE: The cup of chicken juices would come from a Szechuan Roasted Whole Chicken made ahead of time.

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Directions

• On medium heat, simmer the stock, juices, lemongrass, ginger, cilantro and garlic for 5 minutes.
• Add the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. The broth should continue on medium heat (a gentle rolling boil) for about 20 minutes, or until the broth is reduced by half.
• Strain the broth through a sieve into a saucepot. Pick the cilantro leaves off 3 sprigs and add to the strained broth. **Note: If you have a husband like mine that does not like cilantro, you can omit this part)**
• Slowly drizzle the sesame oil to finish (do not stir this in, but just let it slowly drizzle on top of the broth)

Did you know…

Lemongrass is a natural mosquito repellent, which is one of the main reasons why I planted it in the garden. Between the lemongrass, citronella plant, lavender and marigolds, I think I have a great bug forcefield in the garden.