Fresh and lemon-like, with a hint of
rose fragrance. See also
lemon myrtle on lemon fragrance.
Main constituents
The essential oil of lemon grass (0.2 to 0.5%, West Indian lemon grass
oil
) consists mainly of citral.
Further terpenoids in lemon grass
oil are nerol, limonene, linalool and β-caryophyllene.
The content of myrcene is low, but still enough to make the oil
susceptible to oxidative polymerization.
Citral is a mixture of two stereoisomeric monoterpene aldehydes; in lemon
grass oil, the trans isomer geranial (40 to 62%) dominates over
the cis isomer neral (25 to 38%).
East Indian lemon grass oil is distilled from a related species, C.
flexuosus. It consists of alcohols (20 to 30% citronellol, geraniol)
and aldehydes (15% geranial, 10% neral, 5% citronellal). This species is
dominantly used in the perfume industry as it contains less myrcene and,
therefore, has a longer shelf life.
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon grass stem base
Lemon grass stem base
Two further species have considerable relevance for the perfume industry:
The so-called palmarosa oil is distilled from Cymbopogon martini (Roxb.)
J.F. Watson var. martini (native to India, cultivated also in
Jawa) and contains mainly geraniol (75%) and geranyl acetate (12%). Also worth
mentioning is citronella grass (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt)
which also stems from India, but is today grown throughout the tropics; its main
constituents are citronellal (35%), geraniol (25%) and citronellol (10%) plus minor
amounts of geranyl acetate (5%).
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon grass plant
Lemon grass plant
kanchanapisek.or.th © Thai Junior Encyclopedia
Cymbopogon citratus: Stem base of lemon grass
Base of the stem of lemon grass
Origin
The genus has about 55 species, most of which are native to South Asia,
Southeast Asia and
Australia. The so-called East-Indian lemon grass (Cymbopogon
flexuosus [Nees ex Steudel] J.F. Watson) is native to India, Sri Lanka,
Burma and Thailand; for the related West-Indian lemon grass (C.
citratus [DC] Stapf), a Malesian origin is generally assumed. You might
note that the epitheta East
and West
are here applied quite randomly.
Both species are today cultivated throughout tropical Asia.
Cymbopogon citratus: Stem base of lemon grass
Base of the stem of lemon grass
Cymbopogon flexuosus: Lemon grass plant
Lemon grass plant
Although the two species can almost be used interchangeably,
C. citratus is more relevant for cooking. In India, it
is cultivated as a medical herb and for perfumes, but not used as a spice;
in the rest of tropical Asia (mostly South East Asia, more marginally in Sri Lanka),
it is an important culinary herb and spice.
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon grass stem
Lemon gras stems
Cymbopogon flexuosus: Lemon grass plant
Lemon grass plant
Etymology
The botanical genus name Cymbopogon is derived from
Greek kymbe [κύμβη] boat
and pogon [πώγων] beard
;
it refers to the boat-shaped spathes and the many-eared inflorescences which
remind to a beard.
The species name citratus obviously
relates to the prominent lemon fragrance of
that plant. Similarly, most European names of lemon grass are either
adapted from local names of lemon (citronella) or are compounds
meaning lemon herb
(Finnish sitruunaruoho,
Portuguese erva-cidreira, Turkish limon otu, Chinese ning meng xiang mao [檸檬香茅] lemon-flavoured plant
)
or particularly often lemon-grass
(Danish citrongræs,
Lithuanian citrinžolė,
Czech citrónová tráva,
Estonian sidrunhein, Hungarian citromfű).
Similar compounds are Russian
limonnoe sorgo [лимонное сорго] lemon-sorghum
and Spanish te de limón lemon tea
.
The various names of lemon are further explained under
lemon and lime.
Arabic hashisha al-limun [حشيشة الليمون]
contains hashish [حشيش] grass
,
which is known as a euphemistic term for cannabis in the West.
The arabic name for water pipe
, shisha [شيشة],
may be related, although others derive it from Farsi shisheh [شیشه] glass
in reference to the material the pipe is made from. The latter would be analogous to
Persian nargileh (see coconut for its derivation).
Cymbopogon citratus: Citronella grass plant
Lemon grass plant
Cymbopogon citratus: Leaves of lemon grass
Leaves of lemon grass
The English word grass and its Latin cognate gramen
(from older grasmen) (grass)-blade, stalk
cannot be
explained easily. It is probably connected to an Proto-Indo–Europeanpean root
referring to plant growth (GhREH2 or GhRĒ project out, sprout, grow
, with
grow and green as close English kin); in German, the basic meaning
is preserved in Grat ridge, crest
and Gräte fish bone
. On the other hand, given the importance
of grass as an animal fodder, it is hardly coincidental that a similar
Proto-Indo–Europeanpean root, GRAS, means devour, digest
(see cress for more information on this root).
The medieval English name squinant is a corruption
of earlier schoenanth and derives from two Greek words,
schoinos [σχοῖνος] rush, grass
(see also chives)
and anthos [ἄνθος] flower
. Another name of
that period is Dutch kamelhewe and Yiddish
kemlhey [קעמלהײ] camel’s hay
which refers to the caravans that transported dried lemongrass on the
back of camels from tropical Asia to Europe (spice route). Lemon grass
was used for beer brewing (see gale) and
preparation of spiced wines.
It is an open question whether lemon grass was already known in antiquity,
as many aromatics of ancient texts have not yet been identified. A possible
candidate is the Biblical qaneh [קָנֶה] which
appears to denote a kind of grassy plant or reed; if often occurs in the meaning
branch
. Yet on some occasions, it is listed among aromatics (e. g., in the Song of Songs) and there are not so many grass-shaped aromatic plants to chose
from. Conservative wisdom has it translated calamus
, but lemon grass
would also appear a possibility.
Selected Links
The Epicentre: Lemon Grass
chemikalienlexikon.de: Citral
chemikalienlexikon.de: Geranylacetat
Floridata.com: Lemon Grass
Herbs by Linda Gilbert: Lemon Grass
Recipe: Tinuransa (Indonesian Pork Stew) (recipes.wuzzle.org)
Recipe: Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Skewers [Thịt bò nướng sả] (www.vietworldkitchen.com)
Recipe: Vietnamese Spicy Beef Fondue [Bò nhúng dấm] (www.food-lists.com)
Recipe: Spicy Grilled Lemongrass Ribs [Sườn Nướng Xả Ớt] (pwmf.blogspot.com)
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon grass
Lemon grass
The fresh taste of lemon grass is typical for Southeast Asia
and Sri Lanka. The spice is most popular in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and on
the Indonesian islands. In Thailand, finely ground fresh lemon grass is added
to
curry pastes (see
coconut). Its fine
fragrance goes well with poultry, fish and sea food.
Vietnamese cookery, being much less spiced, makes use of lemon grass in several
ways. A popular Vietnamese meal is bo nhung dam [bò nhúng dấm], often
translated vinegar beef
or Vietnamese fondue
. At the table, each diner
boils thin slices of beef in a vinegar-flavoured broth containing ample lemon
grass. The beef is then, together with fresh vegetables and herbs (coriander, mint and Vietnamese coriander), wrapped in rice paper and eaten
with spicy sauces based on fish sauce (nuoc mam [nước mắm]),
lime juice, peanuts and chiles. This recipe demonstrates the
Vietnamese preference for communal foods (prepared together at the table), for wrapped bits of food and for fresh herbs. Lemon
grass is also used for Vietnamese curries, see rice
paddy herb.
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon grass bush
Lemon grass
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemongrass plant
Bush of lemon grass
In Indonesia, the term bumbu (spelled boemboe in Dutch)
refers to mixtures of ground fresh spices, whose composition is unique for
every single dish. In Bali, they are called jangkap (see Indonesian bay-leaf for details).
Bumbu is made by grinding spices together in a mortar:
Onions provide the background, and garlic, chiles and nuts
(most popular is the Indonesian kemiri, also known as
candle nut) are rarely missing. Further common ingredients are greater and lesser
galangale, turmeric, ginger, kaffir lime
leaves, Indonesian bay-leaves and lemon grass.
Dried spices are of minor importance, although coriander and black pepper
are occasionally mentioned, and some recipes even employ nutmeg or cloves. On Jawa
and Bali, toasted or fried trassi (shrimp paste) is never
omitted. Bumbu is
used either raw or having been stir-fried for a few minutes.
Cymbopogon citratus: Lemongrass plant
Bush of lemon grass
Often, vegetables are simply cooked in a little water, stock or
coconut milk together with bumbu;
meat, on the other hand, is more frequently rubbed with bumbu
and fried or broiled (e. g., sate, the famous skewers; see lesser galangale for another example). Gravies can be
intensified by adding one or two tablespoons of bumbu before
serving. Bumbu dissolved in meat broth makes the basis for
most Indonesian soups (e. g., the ubiquitous chicken soup soto
ayam) and also for Malaysian laksa (see
Vietnamese coriander).
Lastly, fried bumbu can be used as a condiment.
Further information on the cuisines of Indonesia can be found at Indonesian bay-leaf and lesser
galangale (Bali), greater galangale and
Sichuan pepper (Sumatra),
coconut (Sulawesi), tamarind (Jawa) and mango
about the pan-Indonesian fruit salad rujak.
The pleasant aroma of lemon grass is never dominating; it can be substituted by
lemon balm (though it is, of course, not the same),
but not by lime fruits, kaffir lime leaves or lemon
myrtle, which are much more dominant.
- Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages Table of Content page
- Indices Various indices to search for a particular spice
- English All English spice names, sorted alphabetically
- Multilingual Search spices by foreign names
- Alphabetic More than 10000 spice names in 70+ languages
- Greek ScriptSearch spices names in Old and Modern Greek
- Cyrillic ScriptSearch spices names in Russian, Bulgarian, Kazakh,...
- Hebrew ScriptSearch spices names in Hebrew and Yiddish
- Arabic Script Search spice names in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu,...
- Indic ScriptsSearch spice names in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu,...
- Hanzi & Kanji Search spice names in Chinese and Japanese
- More ... Spice names in rarer tongues
- Geographic Spices sorted according to region of origin or frequent usage
- Botanical Spices sorted according to plant families
- Morphologic Spices sorted according to part of the plant
- Spice Mixtures Index of spice mixtures and their main ingredients
- Search Explanation how to use the search engine
- Other Some other texts on spices
- German (Deutsch) Die Seite können Sie auch auf Deutsch lesen
- Contact