Preserving Lemongrass in Brine

Lemongrass, fresh and sweetly scented

Perfect for Stir fries, Curries and Jam.

Preserving Lemongrass

Where I live in the mid north coast of New South Wales lemon grass is a constant. 
It grows all year round, healthily and in abundance.  
Like a good extended family, it expands, grows and multiplies.  

 I notice our gorgeous Himalayan cat Chloe loves to chew the sharp grass edges, cleaning her teeth with a citrus flavour.  Lemongrass does have a unique scent which is appealing to animals as well as to us.

 

While we are lucky to have it growing abundantly, it can be handy at times, especially when you have limited time to prepare dinner, to have a jar of lemongrass already chopped in the fridge.

This is a simple and effective way to preserve the lemongrass.

Remove the green stems and only keep the white part of the lemongrass as this contains all of the flavour.
Roughly chop into 3cm lengths.

Then place into a food processor or blender and blend until finely chopped.

Place the lemongrass into a sterilised jar whilst the jar is still hot.
(To sterilise a jar place in the oven when cold and heat oven to 150 celsius, turn off and let sit 10 minutes.)

Make a brine with1 cup boiling water, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Mix all together and pour over the lemongrass making sure it is all covered with the liquid.

 

Seal, cool, then store in the fridge until required.

Use in curries, stir fries or savoury jams as required.

Buon appetito, please let me know if you found this post useful.  Cheers Merryn