Antonio Mcgowan
Lemongrass is a sweet cane related to the citronella plant, widely used in Thai cooking, although it is native to India. Extracts have been taken from this plant as far back as the Pharaohs, who used the sweet, lemony fragrance to freshen the tombs. Today, we use the extracts in perfumes, lotions, bug repellents, and recipes. There are several ways to extract the essence of the lemongrass stalk, including distillation, solvent extraction, expression, and enfleurage.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Methods | Chopping the lemongrass stalk into small pieces, removing the outer stalks, using scissors to slice through the papery parts, using light-flavoured oil, distillation, solvent extraction, expression, enfleurage, hydrodistillation, steam distillation |
| Uses | Perfumes, lotions, bug repellents, recipes |
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What You'll Learn
Chop the lemongrass stalk into small pieces
The next step is to add the chopped lemongrass to a jar of oil. For this, you will need a mason jar and a light-flavoured oil, such as olive oil or sunflower oil. Pour 8 ounces of oil into the jar, and then add about 4 ounces of the chopped lemongrass. Cover the jar and shake until the lemongrass is evenly distributed throughout the oil. This will help to dissolve the fragrant oils in the lemongrass into the oil in the jar.
After shaking the jar, loosen the cover to allow any gases to escape. Then, store the jar in a dark place at room temperature for at least two weeks. This will give the oils time to infuse with the lemony fragrance of the lemongrass.
Once the infusion process is complete, you can use the fragrant oil in a variety of ways. For example, you can add it to recipes that call for a lemony flavour, or you can use it to make homemade lotions or creams. You could even use it as a natural perfume.
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Use scissors to slice through the papery parts
Lemongrass is a sweet cane related to the citronella plant, widely used in Thai cooking, although it is native to India. Extracts have been taken from this plant as far back as the Pharaohs, who used the sweet, lemony fragrance to freshen the tombs. Today, we use the extracts in perfumes, lotions, bug repellents, and recipes.
There are several ways to extract the essence of the lemongrass stalk. One method is to chop the stalk into small pieces and remove the outer stalks to reveal the tighter inner stem. This is where scissors come in handy. Use the scissors to carefully slice through the papery parts of the stalk that a knife might not be able to cut effectively. This technique ensures that you can access the fragrant inner parts of the lemongrass, maximising the extraction of its essential oils.
It is important to note that fragrance extraction refers to the process of extracting aromatic compounds from raw materials. Common methods include distillation, solvent extraction, expression, and enfleurage. Distillation-based recovery processes, such as steam and vacuum distillation, are often preferred for extracting essential oils from plant materials. However, other methods like enfleurage, which involves absorbing aroma materials into solid fat or wax and then extracting the odorous oil with ethyl alcohol, can also be used.
By using scissors to slice through the papery parts of the lemongrass stalk, you can effectively release the fragrant oils and compounds within. This step is crucial in the process of extracting the essence of lemongrass for various applications, whether it be for creating perfumes, enhancing recipes, or infusing lotions with a delightful lemony fragrance.
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Pour oil into a jar with chopped lemongrass
To extract the fragrance from lemongrass, you can use a method called enfleurage. This is a two-step process: first, the odour of the aromatic material is absorbed into wax or fat, and then it is extracted with alcohol.
To extract the fragrance from lemongrass using oil, you will need to pour oil into a jar with chopped lemongrass. The oil should be light-flavoured, and the jar should be a mason jar. Pour 8 ounces of oil into the jar, and then add about 4 ounces of chopped lemongrass. Cover the jar and shake until the lemongrass is distributed throughout the oil. Loosen the cover to allow any gases to escape. Store the jar for at least two weeks in a dark place at room temperature.
The resulting fragrant oil can be used in recipes, homemade lotions or creams.
Before you chop the lemongrass, you will need to prepare the stalk. First, remove the outer stalks to reveal the tighter inner stem. Then, use scissors to slice through the papery parts that a knife won't cut.
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Hydrodistillation
Lemongrass is a sweet cane related to the citronella plant, widely used in Thai cooking. Extracts from the plant have been used for thousands of years, including by the Pharaohs to freshen the smell of tombs. Today, lemongrass extracts are used in perfumes, lotions, bug repellents and recipes.
There are several ways to extract the fragrance from lemongrass, including distillation, solvent extraction, expression and enfleurage. Hydrodistillation is a type of distillation that works best for powders. It involves the use of water to steam the plant material, which is then cooled so that the essential oils can be extracted.
To begin the hydrodistillation process, the lemongrass stalks should be chopped into small pieces. The outer stalks should be removed to reveal the tighter inner stem, and scissors can be used to slice through the papery parts that a knife won't cut. The chopped lemongrass is then placed in a still with water and heated. As the water boils, it will vaporise the aromatic compounds in the lemongrass. The vapours will rise up through a condenser, where they will cool and turn back into a liquid. This liquid will be a mixture of water and essential oil, which can be separated by decanting or centrifugation.
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Enfleurage
Today, enfleurage is rarely used in the perfume industry due to its prohibitive cost and the existence of more efficient and effective extraction methods. However, it can be done at home. To extract fragrance from lemongrass using enfleurage, you will need to pour 8 ounces of light-flavoured oil into a mason jar and add about 4 ounces of chopped lemongrass. Cover the jar and shake until the lemongrass is distributed throughout the oil. Loosen the cover to allow for any gases to escape. Store for at least two weeks in the dark at room temperature. The resulting fragrant oil can be used in recipes, homemade lotions or creams.
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Frequently asked questions
There are several ways to extract fragrance from lemongrass, including distillation, solvent extraction, expression or enfleurage. Enfleurage is a two-step process during which the odour of aromatic materials is absorbed into wax or fat, and then extracted with alcohol.
Chop the lemongrass stalk into small pieces, then remove the outer stalks to reveal the tighter inner stem. Use scissors to slice through the papery parts that a knife won't cut. Pour 8 ounces of light-flavoured oil into a mason jar and add about 4 ounces of the chopped lemongrass. Cover the jar and shake until the lemongrass is distributed throughout the oil. Loosen the cover to allow for any gases to escape. Store for at least two weeks in the dark at room temperature.
Lemongrass fragrance can be used in perfumes, lotions, creams, bug repellents and recipes.
