Lemongrass

Native to the Philippines and Malaysia, Lemongrass is a popular culinary and medicinal herb today. It makes a delicious tea, with a mildly sweet, zesty lemon flavour which is refreshing and not overpowering. In Kerala, this herbal tea is called Chukku Kaapi. Lemongrass grows abundantly and can be harvested several times in a year. Today, most Lemongrass comes from Argentina and Chile.

Lemongrass tea is especially popular in Togo, the Congo and Mexico. Now, it is quickly gaining popularity in the UK and Europe.

As a culinary herb, Lemongrass is excellent with poultry, fish and beef. It is widely used in Thai cooking. The growing awareness of Thai food in the West is largely responsible for Lemongrass's growing popularity as a tea and medicinal herb.

Lemongrass oil has antifungal and preservative properties. In fact, certain ancient Indian manuscripts have survived to this day mainly because they were treated with Lemongrass oil.

Anti-cancer properties of Lemongrass

A study in Israel in 2006 showed that Lemongrass caused death of cancer cells. Normal cells were left unharmed.