Lemon balm leaves and flowers can be used for a relaxing herbal tea.
Melissa officinalis
EDIBLE leaves, flowers
With its lemon-fresh scent, lemon balm is a delicious common culinary herb useful in cooking, baking, and herbal beverages.
Lemon balm is an herbaceous, perennial mint-family plant, growing to heights of up to 3 to 5 feet. Lemon balm is easily identifiable with its bright green, opposite, and fuzzy heart-shaped leaves arranged along a square stem. Lemon balm flowers in midsummer, producing whorled, white flower clusters that then bear small nutlets in late summer. The scent of the plant is unmistakable. It smells similar to lemon-scented furniture polish because of its citronella-like chemical compounds.
Lemon balm leaves and flowers can be used for a relaxing herbal tea.
Lemon balm loves the dappled sun at the edges of the woods. The tender leaves of spring are best to gather fresh for tea, as they are filled with a lemony citronella aromatic then, though the plant can be gathered as needed across the season.
Gather lemon balm in large bundles and then dry for tea, or use in the kitchen fresh for a variety of preparations. The plant goes to flower in midsummer and then to seed in August, resulting in a significantly drier plant to the touch. In the fall, new leaves appear that are as tender as the spring’s leaves, but not nearly in the same quantity.
Traditionally lemon balm is used as a calmative tea. A hot tea of lemon balm is significantly more relaxing and more bitter than a cool infusion of the fresh plant straight out of the garden. Adding lavender, catnip, rose petals, and chamomile to the cool infusion of lemon balm makes a wonderful iced tea that also works well with a splash of vodka and fresh lemon wedge.
Use lemon balm fresh in brines and garnishes for light fishes, pork, and chicken. It pairs well on meats with other spring herbs such as fresh chives, chervil, parsley, juniper, and lovage, and it makes the most delightful addition to spring herbed butters.
In baking, lemon balm can be incorporated with herbs like lavender into light, buttery scones, and it also can be turned into an aromatic jelly.
For the bar, lemon balm simple syrup is great in refreshing spritzers or served as the base for a honeyed vodka cocktail. Steep fresh lemon balm into (cheap) white wine to give it a crisp, lemony flavor similar to that of a nice Viognier or Pinot Gris.
Lemon balm is a voracious spreader, but not with runners like many assume. Lemon balm’s nutlets spread easily, and you can help propagate the spread of the plant by gathering and planting the seeds in fall or starting them indoors. The plant can also be propagated by cuttings.