Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  Best Lemongrass Oil for Making Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Mar 1, 2015  |  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  2 comments I grow both of the most common types of lemongrass in my garden: the bulbous stalk type we’re most familiar with,  Cymbopogon citratus, known as West Indian lemongrass.  This is the one used in stirfrys, Asian marinade pastes, and many savory dishes. I also grow  Cymbopogon flexuosus, known as East Indian lemongrass , which grows much taller than the citratus, and has a skinny stalk, no swelling at the base. Earlier research showed me that the flexuosus is used in sweet recipes in the Far East, such as sodas, syrups, candies, and such. Cymbopogon flexuosus aka East Indian lemongrass. Notice the base of the stalks is not swollen, it’s a slender stem. Love this old photo, it’s from 2003 when I first got my C. flexuosus plant. Here’s a shot of the planted flexuosus in my garden today, it’s a bit beaten down by rain, but notice the tall, rangy growth ha

Lemongrass plantation - Malaysia I've always been a dreamer and an optimist. Time to move forward with the project I touched upon in my last blog. Backstory: I dropped the ball in September of 2008 when I was scheduling a lunch with someone from the biggest vetiver distillation company in Haiti. That week, and the week following, huge storms swept Haiti, causing horrific flooding and loss of life. I figured to just back off as she took care of business, and I just felt superfluous to the problems they/she were facing, and lost contact with her. As I wrote recently, I'm going to direct efforts into reforestation efforts in Haiti, as soon as I can connect with a local agency. They're impossible to contact this week, but I'll keep at it. I'm also going to recontact my distillation connection for several reasons. I feel terrible I just gave up when faced with the situation in 2008. I guess I suffer from PTSD from all the hurricanes we get here in Florida, and