Lemongrass and traditional Chinese recipes

[Pan]

Hmmm....no razor sharp leaves from the lemongrass growing where we were. The grass was a little rough in feel, but that was about it. I guess that's the difference between a little lemongrass as a weed and a big plant. And after all, we used up about 5 blades of that grass in a few weeks' time.

[Tepee]

One more difference. The difference between the delicate skin of a woman and the tough skin of a man.

[Raquel]

We used either a knife or a pair of scissors to cut the blades close to the bulb.

If you run your finger one way up the leaf, it scratches you... but run it the other way and it is fine.

[Dejah]

So, maybe the Thai soup that I ate actually had onion so infused with the flavour of lemongrass that I thought it WAS lemongrass?

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No, it was lemongrass. As Chris said, you don't use the hard stuff near the bulb; you use the softer grassy part. And yes, fresh lemongrass is very edible after being boiled in soup, and not necessarily for 4 hours. I know, because lemongrass grew as a weed in the side yard of the house I used to live in in Malaysia. To be fair, it was not so tall as to get a fibrous base, but I've also eaten good lemongrass in soup, etc., in American Thai restaurants repeatedly.

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Well, looks like I will have to make the Thai soup this weekend with the lemongrass I have on hand.

Then, there's that chicken thawing in the fridge...Tie the lemongrass into a knot and stuff it?

Good thing I've got a 4 day weekend and hungry mouths to feed!

[piazzola]

I dated someone from the Caribbean whose mother used to pick lemongrass out of their garden when she was sick, but she said that her mother boiled it and served the liquid a cold remedy. She didn't eat it straight.

JT is right

In South America my father used it to brew tea but never eaten the grass

It occurs in the wild perhaps someone planted seeds don't know but tha was fourty years ago he!he!