Re: [Assam] Citron and Citronella

[Anjan K. Nath]

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).