February/March 1997
By Betsy Strauch
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Photograph by Steven Foster
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• Cymbopogon citratus
• (Sim-bo-PO-gon sit-RAY-tuss)
• Family Gramineae
• Tender perennial
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Among lemon herbs, lemongrass is the big one, towering 3 to 6 feet above the others—lemon verbena, lemon mint (actually a monarda), lemon balm, lemon basil, lemon thyme. A blend of clear lemon flavor and flowery overtones, it’s also one of the tastiest, as Southeast Asian cooks have long known.
• Lemongrass Recipe: Thai Lemongrass Marinade for Fish or Chicken
The genus Cymbopogon comprises fifty-six species of mostly aromatic grasses native to the Old World Tropics. Lemongrass (C. citratus) is native to southern India and Sri Lanka; it is cultivated for its oil in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as well as in Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, and Uganda.
Lemongrass’s dense clumps of strap-shaped leaves may reach 6 feet tall. The individual leaves, 3 feet long by 1/2 inch wide, taper at both ends, and the tips may arch gracefully. The edges of the blades are very sharp. Blue-green throughout the summer, the leaves turn rusty red in fall. Lemongrass bears large, loose compound flower heads when grown in the Tropics, but it rarely flowers otherwise.
The generic name Cymbopogon comes from the Greek words kymbe, “boat”, and pogon, “beard”, and refers to the inflated spathe (bract) that encloses the flower spike. The specific name citratus is Latin for “lemony”; the leaves contain the lemony constituents citral and linalool.
As a medicine, lemongrass has been used traditionally to reduce fever by inducing sweating, alleviate cold symptoms and headaches, calm upset stomachs, and relieve spasms. It inhibits the growth of fungi and bacteria and is used externally to treat ringworm, lice, athlete’s foot, and scabies. Researchers in Brazil recently reported that the constituent linalool had a strong sedative effect on laboratory mice and speculated that humans could relax by inhaling significant quantities while taking an herbal bath containing the substance.
In Southeast Asian cuisine, the tender leaf bases of lemongrass are chopped and used to flavor fish, sauces, and curries. The heart of the young shoots may be eaten as a vegetable with rice. The tougher parts of the leaves can be cooked in soup or steeped for tea or vinegar, then removed and discarded before serving. The tea is delicious either hot or iced. Lemongrass also is used in Greece and Turkey to substitute for yogurt in the preparation of a traditional fermented milk-and-cereal dish during religious holidays when consuming animal milk is prohibited.