'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
