Yeah, I got back to it, and spent about 3 hours finagling with the blasted thing, cutting it, taking apart the bulbs/clumps, and simply washing it. After quite a few days in there it still was housing its own little eco-system and the slugs came tearing all out.
I ended up bringing the food processor INTO the bathroom because I was in no mood to carry dripping piles of lemongrass nearly 4 feet long across the house into the kitchen.
Oh, and as it turns out and I should have thought about this before starting, lemongrass leaves do not process well. I saved the bulbs whole in the freezer because they have the most flavor and are great on their own, but the leaves... yes... instead of my brilliant plant of finely shredded lemongrass, I got a massive spool of it looped around the processor blades >_<.
I had to get my hand in there a million times to turn the shredded stuff to the top and the hoops of lemongrass to the bottom. Much aggravation. After I completed the leaves of one clump I said, "screw it, this is too painful," and decided that I would not process the other clump I am saving in a pot to overwinter in the house.
I didn't need the leaves of the clump in the pot and I knew that it'd do better if I gave it a haircut so that the rest of the plant could get a fresh start indoors and not be too stressed (and start pushing out fresh new leaves for me). I just couldn't deal with anymore lemongrass!
No guilt and no shame!
The great thing about processing all the lemongrass was that the bathroom and the house smelled obviously lemony fresh. The bad news is that my bathroom looked like this:
Blargh. Mother visiting in 3 days and counting... Maybe it would be easier to just tell her in third world countries many people use the sink? Just kidding! I'll clean it up *grumble, grumble*
(DON'T FORGET, LABEL/TAG GIVEAWAY STILL OPEN UNTIL END OF THIS WEEK so comment if you'd like to be in the running!)
3 comments:
I don't grow lemongrass, but love it is thai dishes :) You wrote an interesting post that gave me a glimpse into how to harvest and process this herb.
first time to your blog and have to say I got a chuckle from your header picture :D
Sounds like something I would do. Food processor in the bathroom, that is.
Can you not just cut the grass with a large knife?
@llona: Lemongrass really just grows itself! If you can at least find some lemongrass with good healthy looking bulbs (a little root helps too) then place it in water and poof! *almost* instant lemongrass! I swear this summer's one work is enough lemongrass to last me for more than a year with what's in my freezer!
@janie: Yea, the heaviness of carrying the processor was more reasonable than dealing with soppy lemongrass! Um, did you mean cut the lemongrass with a knife/scissors while it was in the processor? *D'oh!* Hmm.. I think I was so annoyed I wasn't thinking, good thing I have many other people's brains here....
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