Aromatic leaves

Lemongrass

Cymbopogon citratus

Tall, woody stalks with a lemony scent, bruised or minced into Southeast Asian curries, soups and pastes.

Also called: lemon grass, takrai, serai, sả

Citrus & bright
Herbal & green
No heat

Buying & storing 39 recipes

Flavour and aroma

lemony, grassy, floral, fresh. Lemony, floral and slightly gingery.

Heat: No heat
Forms: fresh, frozen, dried, paste

How to use it

infuse · Simmering technique
For soups and stocks: trim the root and tough top, bruise the stalk with the back of a knife, cut into 5 cm lengths and simmer. Remove or leave on the side; the pieces are too fibrous to eat.
crush · Dry grinding technique
For pastes and marinades: peel off the tough outer layers and use only the tender lower 10–15 cm. Slice very thinly across, then pound or blend until fine.
use raw
Very finely sliced tender core can go into salads (Thai yam, Lao laap) raw.

Pounded into Thai and Malaysian curry pastes
Bruised in tom yum and other soups
Minced into marinades for grilled meats
Steeped in tea
Skewers for grilled meat

Identifying good quality

Pale green stalks 30–60 cm long with a swollen whitish base and tightly wrapped outer leaves. Fresh stalks are firm and heavy with a strong lemon smell when cut; dry, light, or yellow-brown stalks are old.

Not to be confused with Spring onion: Spring onions are hollow and smell of onion; lemongrass is solid, fibrous and smells of lemon.

Origin and history

Origin: Tropical South and Southeast Asia (Cymbopogon citratus).. Grown and used: Grown across Southeast Asia, India, Africa and the tropical Americas; essential in Thai, Vietnamese, Lao, Cambodian, Malaysian and Indonesian cooking..

Lemongrass is a long-established flavouring in Southeast Asian cooking, pounded into curry pastes (including Cambodian kroeung and Thai kaeng pastes) and simmered in soups such as tom yum. Its lemon aroma comes from citral, the same compound found in lemon peel.

Well documented