My Homework - Lemongrass Tea

As a Christmas gift to myself, I enrolled in the Herbal Academy of New England, an online educational program for those who want to become herbalists and/or anyone who is interested in herbs.  I am thrilled and excited to add an academic understanding of herbs and how they interact in their various forms. I’ve discovered that ideas of how and where you can use herbs are limitless!  We can create teas, tinctures, poultices, essential oils, soaps, creams, syrups, and salves.  We can also use them in our cooking, baking, jams, jellies, vinegars, oils, honey, salts, mix them with other herbs or simply munch on a sprig right off the plant. Until now, my education was limited to reading books, the Internet and talking to my Naturopathic doctor.  Once 20 years ago, I also took a guided hike on identifying wild edible plants.  All I can remember from that day was the ability to identify Yarrow (a popular flower used for medicinal purposes) and tasting some uninspiring grassy, sometimes bitter tasting weeds.  Ick! The first lesson in my program involves making a medicinal tea from whatever I have on hand. Since I grow a lot of herbs on my small farm, I have many options.  Needing an herb to test, I grabbed one of the many large paper grocery bags on my counter filled with herbs, opened it and discovered that I picked lemongrass.  I had never used this herb before so I decided to try it.   Back-story on my poor little Lemongrass plant – It’s a Miracle! Lemongrass is a new herb on my farm.  Last winter, I found a catalog company that had a sale on plants and, at the time; it seemed to be a good deal. Who can resist a sale!  The plant arrived on life support (obviously the reason for the sale) and it was clear that the plant didn’t have much, if any, time left.  However, deep in the core of this dried up grassy blob; I found a little green stem. Since maybe there was some hope, I figured I’d plant it vs. tossing it into the compost pile.  I placed it into a corner of a raised bed already pretty full of mints, sage and oregano, blessed the little plant and left it at that. During the summer, it got watered (when I remembered…) and to my surprise that scraggly dried up little grassy thing started to grow! By the end of summer, it had shot up over 36 inches and was taking over the corner of its raised bed. Before the first freeze, I cut the plant back down to its original size (a few inches tall) bound the cut grass into bunches and stuffed it into a grocery store paper bag to dry.  I tossed the bag on my kitchen counter where it’s been since fall.  I honestly had no clue as to what I was going to do with the grass. A couple of thoughts surfaced (possibly soap or a seasoned salt) but no decision. My Research on Lemongrass           (Disclaimer:  I am not a health expert and have no medical training.  The purpose of this article is not to diagnose and/or treat medical issues.  This is for informational purposes only.  If you have questions regarding your health, please consult with a medical physician) According to Healthers.org lemongrass has some great medicinal properties. Here is an excerpt from their website:

• Powerful pain relieving properties. It helps to alleviate muscle spasms by relaxing the muscles thereby leading to the reduction of pain-related symptoms.

 

• Is useful for all types of pain including abdominal pain, headaches, joint pains, muscle pains, digestive tract spasms, muscle cramps, stomach ache and others.

 

• Can be linked to increasing the body’s ability to repair damaged connective tissue such as cartilage, ligaments and tendons and is thus recommended for these types of injuries.

 

• Improvements in blood circulation.

 

• Its antifungal and antibacterial, lemongrass inhibits bacteria and yeast growth.

 

• It is useful for gastrointestinal infections and may also be applied externally to wounds as it fights germs.

 

• As an antioxidant, lemongrass contributes to liver and pancreatic health by helping the body to more quickly remove toxins.

 

• It has also being linked to lowered or normalized cholesterol levels.

 

• It also treats digestive issues including gastro-enteritis and may be helpful in relieving constipation.

 

• Some sources suggest that lemongrass has antidepressant properties and is thus beneficial for nervous and stress-related conditions.

 

• It is said to be helpful in alleviating anxiety and depressive symptoms. It helps to strengthen the nervous system and may thus be useful for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

 

• The presence of Vitamin A in lemongrass makes it helpful for skin issues such as acne pimples.

 

• It helps to brighten the skin and eyes and clear up oily skin, thus improving acne.

 

• Its antibacterial property is also valuable for skin infections. Lemongrass may improve poor body odor by controlling excessive sweating.

 

• One research study conducted at Ben Gurion University in Israel found that the citral found in lemongrass has possible benefits in inhibiting cancer. It revealed that this compound may contribute to the death of cancer cells with no noted negative effect on normal cells.

In addition, I wasn’t surprised to learn that lemongrass is a great culinary herb and is very popular in Asian cuisine.  According to the book “20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs” by Victoria Zak, lemongrass, as a tea, is one of the tried and true herbs for added flavor and synergy.  It’s often used in tea blends to enhance and balance flavors of multiple tea herbs. Inspiration Hits!   In herbal basic training, one must know how to make medicinal teas.  I learned that medicinal teas have a higher tea to water ratio.  In addition, commercial teas in tea bags have little to no medicinal value because there isn’t enough of the herb in the tea bag to make a difference.  If you are looking for a health benefit from commercial tea, buy loose leaf. I discovered that lemongrass tea has a wonderful strong lemony taste with a back note of grass and I was surprised how much I liked it.   As I sipped my cup of tea, I began to think about the possibility of using this tea in a soap recipe along with the dried lemongrass. I already make herbal soaps using dried herbs and essential oils and wondered what would happen if I added tea to my recipe? Not wanting to waste time, I dried the steeped lemongrass from my pot of tea, measured out enough tea for my soap recipe and began measuring / mixing the rest of my ingredients.  My house smelled like the lemon groves I used to visit not far from my childhood home in Southern California.  It was invigorating!   The soap is now curing and, as it will be a few weeks before I can test it, I’ll post an update in the coming weeks.             Lemongrass Tea Shrimp Scampi   Here I go again…. While cooking dinner that night, I was hit with another inspiration!  My recipe for Shrimp Scampi called for lemon juice so I thought I would add the remaining lemongrass tea to my pan instead of lemon juice.  It worked great and my husband, who is my official taste tester, gave me thumbs up!!           (Replaced the lemon juice with the tea)               The success of my experiments will result in my ordering more plants this spring so I can use lemongrass in even more products.