Lemon Grass
Essential to Thai and other SE Asian foods
Lemon Grass is a long, grass-like herb with a subtle aroma and taste of citrus, despite being completely unrelated to lemons. It is a key flavouring for South East Asian cusines such as Thai and Malaysian, and is also used to a lesser extent in India and China.
Lemon grass is also known as citronella root or sereh.
Only the stalk of the lemon grass is used, usually being heavily bruised by pounding before being added to a sauce or stock, and usually removed before serving as the tough fibrous stalks are not digestible prepared in this way. Lemon grass can also be pounded into curry pastes along with garlic, fiery chilli and other spices.
Fresh lemon grass is a widely available in Asian markets as well as most supermarkets nowadays, and is fairly inexpensive. If you find a good source, you can buy more than you need and freeze the remainder, as freezing is one of the best ways of preserving the fresh herb.
Dried lemon grass is also available, but as with most dried herbs and spices it lacks the vitality of the fresh product.
If lemon grass is not available, you can instead use 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest, which will give good if inauthentic results.
As well as having reputed medicinal qualities including aiding digestion and helping with muscular aches, lemon grass also makes a good mosquito repellent and is an important source of essential oils for producers of soaps, perfumes, and candles.
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