thanks for all the info. to all.
I guess everybody else knew about it in Assam except me. Now my husband, Ram is saying he had some friends who had big 'bari's (the kind that DD sent the picture of) of this plant in front and back of their houses in Xundorbori gaon (near Jalukbari), and the smell of that 'sitronella' is same like the one we have at home (the engineered one) now. well!
Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
--- Begin Message --->From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Anjan K. Nath" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "D Deka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "mala sarangapani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "saurav pathak" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >CC: "ASSAMNETCOLORADO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [Assam] Citron and Citronella >Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 21:28:47 -0500 > >'sitronela', as Anjan points out, IS widely cultivated in the fallow areas >of tea estates, at least in Upper Assam. The plants are very distinctive in >appearance--their leaves are of a light green shade, wide ( 2" plus or so) >bladed. Almost looks like 'keteki fulor gos'--screw pine, except that screw >pines have thorns and have an angular midriff, and the leaves are longer. > > >I grow lemon grass here in St. Louis. It is a fast growing grass.NOT >PERENNIAL in our environs. Have to take them indoors for the winter. In >Houston I am certain they would be perennial. It is great on soups, meat >dishes and the like. I break off the green onion like sprig, remove the >outer layers of onion like skin from the bulbular bottom, and finely chop >them for use in cooking. > >I too never saw or heard of lemon grass in Assam. > > > > > > > >At 9:54 AM -0700 6/5/03, Anjan K. Nath wrote: > > I am reading this on Thursday morning, not having checked my mail > >over the Dragon Boat Festival holiday on Wednesday. Deka is right in his > >note below. Although Citronella grass is often referred to as Lemon > >Grass, they are quite different. Citronella Grass is still grown > >aboundantly in the fallow areas of tea gardens and is a good source of > >revenue for Assam. I have not come across Lemon Grass, as used in Thai > >cooking, in India. A few sprigs or roots of Lemon grass kept in rice > >keeps the insects/bugs away and gives the rice a fresh lemony flavour. > >Great for cooking meats too. Several species of Citronella plants have > >been evolved (hybridized) of late and the most common one is that of the > >Geranium. I think this was done in Israel. Today it is quite common to > >find Lemon Mint and few others in the market. AKN In Assam everyone > >calls it "sitronela". The sitronela oil used to be quite cheap, but > >recently I find that the prices have gone up a lot -- perhaps due to the > >excessive use of it as a disinfectant in hospitals. Couldn't stand the > >strong smell in the ICU and ITU of International Hospital, Guwahati that > >I had to complain to the Manager. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: D Deka To: mala > >sarangapani ; saurav pathak Cc: ASSAMNETCOLORADO Sent: Tuesday, > >June 03, 2003 12:27 PM Subject: [Assam] Citron and Citronella > > Please don't use Citronella grass to cook your snail in, mistaking it > >for Lemon grass. Citronella grass is not edible. Lemon grass and > >Citronella grass are two totally different plants. Then there is > >Citronella plant (named so just to confuse us all, also called Mosquito > >plant), which is a genetically engineered Geranium. This is the one > >that Alpana sent a picture of. This is all I know about these > >plants. So no more questions. You can find pictures of the three > >plants in google web sites. --- Dilip > > > >Lemon Grass > >Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), a native of India, is widely used in > >Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Lemon grass is a perennial, which means > >once you plant it, the grass comes back year after year. Depending on > >the area you live in the plant will go dormant in the winter. In harsh > >climates the plant will need to be potted and wintered indoors. This > >aromatic herb is used in Caribbean and many types of Asian cooking and > >has become very popular in the United States. Most of the commercial > >crops for the United States are grown in California and Florida. Lemon > >grass is also used for medicinal purpose. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Do you Yahoo!? > >Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). > > > >_______________________________________________ >Assam mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam"Sitronela" is cultivated in the fallow areas of tea gardens in Lower Assam too, as well as in "Tamulor Bari". The stems are quite thick, but I have not seen the blades so wide like 2" or so. It looks more like "Kher" wildly grown in "Chapori"--Luitor Bali (I guess it is silt which helps to grow) which village folks use for roofing, and town folks use on top of galvanized sheet for cooling--I guess. Kher is more taller grass than Sitronela, but sitronela has thicker stems.
By the way, the oil extraction process was devised (invented/discovered?) in Assam Agril University by two students in the 70s. and later RRL, Jorhat improved it for industrial production. My khura stil can talk about it for hours (one inventor was his roommate), and his handshake with then VC S. Ranjan Baruah along with their parody "sitronela, sitronela alop tel dibane"....
Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
--- End Message ---
