I just bought a tube of Lemon Grass in the chilled produce section of the grocery. It says it's pure. No other ingredients. Expires in Sept, but if you can chill it, you can probably freeze it. I've heard about it, so I went to the website of the manufacturer to find out what it's used for. First try, I hated it :-) There are recipes on the site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Manufacturer of Store Bought Lemon Grass

Crush the stalks (the white part)with the side of a knife blade (press down, perhaps give a little punch downwards), then slice the stalks thinly. Freeze in thin 'pancakes' between layers of plastic wrap - this way it's easy to snap off small sections as required. Of course, the stems can be frozen whole, but most recipes require it to be chopped. The initial crushing makes it easier to chop.

The "leaves" are used in teas and afterwards processed thru your blender and discarded around your lawn area as it is belied to help keep mosquito away. The white portion can be trimmed up and placed in a ziplock baggy and stored in your frig. for a few months and used fresh. There is a website that shows how to use it in cooking.

Thanks for the replies. I have decided to bring one container inside when winter approaches and the other one I will harvest in October, slice some into lengths and freeze, and chop some and freeze. I love it in stir-fry and soups, and I also enjoy just breaking off a stalk and chewing on it. I will try it in tea sometime - sounds quite good.

Have a good day.
-Tom

michelelc - Thanks for the advice, I will try that. I have an outbuilding that is kept dark and is heated only to around 40 - 45 degrees during winter. This is where I store my veggies and overwinter my geraniums and container spike plants. I will try out what you suggested with the lemon grass plants. Much better solution to me than bringing the plants (and possibly bugs) into the house and trying to care for them all winter long.

My plants are getting fairly large and are finally getting some thickness to the stalks - I think I may actually get a decent harvest. Wonderful container plants that accent all the other plants nicely.

Here in this area they are trimmed for sale and banded and placed in the produce section. They may stay there for months so I would suspect they will be just fine if you harvest them before a frost and place them in a package in your refrigerator then start them in pots come near spring. I planted mine a couple months ago and one now has 20 stalks and the other has 18 stalks. When I purchased them they were starting to turn brown but once planted they took off even in locations where they got no watering but let to their own. There are websites which show how to prepare them to be frozen and used in recipes later. How to use the leaves for tea, etc. So it is my believe they are hardy and should hold up for next years planting if you chose to do so, but for use in cooking there are plenty of websites to help you there.