You want to throw together a Thai curry and the recipe asks for a stick of lemongrass… The problem is after heading to the supermarket, you discover you can only buy it in a bundle of 3 or 4 sticks, so what do you do with the remaining sticks you don’t use?
Can You Freeze Lemongrass?
Yes, you can freeze lemongrass for up to 2 months. You can either freeze it as whole stalks, or you can spend a bit of time preparing it and freezing it into ice cubes that can be used directly in your cooking.
Do Does Lemongrass freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Lemongrass? No
How to Freeze Lemongrass
6
servings10
minutes0
minutes10
minutesThis is My Preferred Method for Freezing Lemongrass
Keeps the screen of your device ON
Ingredients
4 Lemongrass Stalks
Directions
- How to Freeze Whole Lemongrass
- Peel
Peel off the outer woody leaves as you normally would when preparing your lemongrass. - Bag and Seal
Place the sticks of lemongrass into a bag and seal, squeezing as much of the air out of the bag as possible. - Freeze
Put your bag of lemongrass in the freezer with a clear label. It’s a good idea to include the date. - How to Freeze Lemongrass in Cubes
- Peel and Dice
Firstly, take your lemongrass stalks and remove the ends and woody outer leaves. Then, finely dice the lemongrass or place it into a mini food processor. - Portion Into Ice Cubes
Once you’ve broken the lemongrass down, place a tablespoon or two into each ice cube slot in your tray. Top up with water until the lemongrass isĀ justĀ submerged. - Freeze
Place your ice cube tray in the freezer and allow it to freeze overnight. - Bag Up and Freeze
Once the lemongrass has frozen, remove it from the ice cube tray and place it into a bag. Seal the bag up, removing as much air as possible before returning the frozen lemongrass to the freezer.
Yes, lemongrass paste can be frozen in an ice cube tray. Portion the paste into the slots of an ice cube tray, freeze and then pop the frozen cubes out into a bag.
Yes, it is possible to freeze lemongrass leaves but they will only be good in cooked dishes. You will find that their texture changes drastically when frozen. You will also find that they lose their flavour faster than lemongrass stalks.
How Long Can You Freeze Lemongrass?
I don’t recommend freezing lemongrass for too long. If you leave it in the freezer for a couple of months, the intense, fragrant perfume you get from lemongrass will become more and more subtle.
Ultimately, you add lemongrass to your dishes for that perfume.
As always, make sure you label your frozen lemongrass with the date it needs to be consumed. This will prevent you from wasting it. After all, that’s why you froze it in the first place!
Lemongrass will keep for between 7 and 10 days in the fridge. The outer leaves will begin to turn brown but these can be peeled away.
How Do You Defrost Lemongrass?
If you’ve frozen your lemongrass into ice cubes, then the great news is you do not need to defrost it.
When you’re cooking a curry or stir fry, take a lemongrass cube out of the freezer and throw it into the pan with your other ingredients. It will thaw out in a matter of minutes and give you that much-needed perfumed lemon hit.
If you’ve frozen your lemongrass whole, then you have a few options, but generally, you don’t actually need to thaw it to use it.
If you’re adding it whole to a stew or soup, give it 30-45mins to soften, bash with a rolling pin to break into the lemongrass, and then place it into your pan with the other ingredients.
Mix the Cubes With Other Spices
Lemongrass is often paired with garlic, ginger and chillies. I love to mix all these spices together and then freeze them into ice cubes. I then pop a cube into curries for instant flavour.
How to Use Frozen Lemongrass
Frozen lemongrass can be used much like you would use fresh lemongrass. The good news is that if you have frozen it into a cube using our method above then you don’t need to defrost it.
Whenever you’re cooking a curry, stew, stir fry or soup and you want to add a hit of lemongrass to the dish, just drop it into the pan with your other base ingredients (such as onion, garlic and ginger).
You can also use frozen lemongrass stalks without defrosting them too. Just give them a gentle bash with the end of a rolling pin and then pop them into your dish.
Can You Refreeze Lemongrass?
Lemongrass is such a delicate flavour that refreezing is likely to degrade all the flavour, which is why I suggest not refreezing it.
Instead, freeze your lemongrass in ice cube portions so you can use a portion at a time without having to ever refreeze it.
Does Lemongrass Freeze Well?
If you only freeze your lemongrass for 6 to 8 weeks, then you’ll actually be hard pushed to notice the difference. You’re not adding lemongrass for colour or texture, but solely for that unique lemony tang it releases when cooked.
Freezing lemongrass doesn’t change the intensity of this perfume, provided that you don’t freeze it for too long.
Sources
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