Help! What To Do With Lemongrass Leaves?

Our lemongrass plant had an unfortunate run-in with a gust of of wind, resulting in a few snapped stems and a whole heck of a lot of leaves. Most recipes only call for the juicy stalk – any suggestions for what we can do with the leaves?

We found a few notes on drying the leaves for use in herbal teas. We’ll try looping some of the leaves into rings and hanging them to dry. A lemony cup of tea sounds like a good cure for winter blues!

If it’s good enough for tea, we wonder if dried lemon grass might also work in a savory broth. Several sources say that fresh lemon grass can make broths too bitter, but the muted flavor of dried leaves might have less punch.

Another thought is to use the fresh leaves to line bamboo steamers when cooking fish, vegetables, and dumplings. We’re hoping the leaves perfume the food as it steams.

We’ll also try freezing some leaves (yes, we really have THAT many leaves!) to see if we can use them in this way once thawed.

Any other suggestions?

Related: Help! What Should We Do with this Coconut Jam?

(Images: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)