I love this picture! If you click on it to enlarge it, you can see the little hairs on the lemon balm leaf. The surface is the glass teapot lid with condensation (full thing shown below).It probably goes without saying, but technically this isn't tea. To truly be tea, the brew needs leaves of the camellia sinensis plant in it. Nonetheless, this is mighty fragrant and flavorful. Got some lemon balm (aka lemon mint) around? Or any mint? Just grab a handful of leaves and pour boiling water over them. Fresh goodness in a flash!
Lemon balm is in the mint family. I've just read that its crushed leaves are good to repel mosquitoes. Yay!, since I seem to attract them. Lemon balm is tough stuff. If you have a black thumb, give this a try...in a pot! Or, if you enjoy pulling up weeds, then plant this in your garden! :-) It makes a lovely tisane. And I like to add it to iced tea, fruit salads, and whatnot.
Great article Steph! I been growing lemon balm for years! Just found some in my spearmint, going to transplant it this afternoon, to my new lemon balm bed. I loved all the info you gave on it. I did not know about the mosquitoes. I only used the leaves on the bottom of the pan when making a lemon cake. I love you put it in a fruit salad. I always out of lemon juice, and I bet this might do the trick to keep the bananas and apple from during dark?????? Do you add the leaves or the juice from the leaf or boil the leaves??????????? Great information !!!!
ReplyDeleteLady Katherine, I just put some leaves in a teapot and pour boiling water over them and steep (about 5 min). If desired, you can then remove the leaves after it reaches your level of tastiness.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds very refreshing. It would also be wonderful to have on hand to garnish cookies, scones, etc. Maybe I'll try planting a pot for the deck. Thanks for all this interesting into.
ReplyDeletei love lemon balm! i never thought of making tea with it though. i have no idea why! what a great post, thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photo, Steph! I used to grow lemon balm in my herb garden and loved it for an herbal infusion. When they were young, my kids said that it smelled like "lemonheads" candy. Ah, what wonderful memories!
ReplyDeleteYou are truly rocking with your photos this week, my friend! Love it! Now, off to find some lemon balm!
ReplyDeleteI love anything that smells or taste even close to lemons. I have lemon verbena growing in my garden, which I love too.
ReplyDeleteone of my favorite smells from childhood, lemon balm. thanks for reminding me!
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Steph. We were at a farm last weekend with friend and noticed a beautiful growth of lemon balm. We had a long conversation about using it for a tisane. Thanks for the great article (and photo)! I'll be sure to pass it along.
ReplyDeleteSteph, Thanks for the reminder of using lemon balm for tea...I've had very large plants and they really never got used. I'll try some tea. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Susan
ReplyDeleteAwesome photo! You can indeed see the little hairs. I can almost smell it from your description. I can't wait to try adding it to a few cups of lovely tea. I am sure the tisane will be incredible. Thanks for sharing such a lovely idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful photo. I love lemon balm, and have been growing it for decades. I even brought some from the garden at my old house when we moved, and it was one of the few things that survived the transplant. You just can't kill the stuff! An added note on lemon balm tea -- it is a wonderful stress reliever and is good for digestion.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to learn more about lemon balm, and lemon verbana 'cause I bought a potted herb plant from Trader Joes...love to experiment!
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ReplyDeletetrying to leave a comment...learning about lemon balm and lemon verbana...potted plant from Trader Joes...love this website...thanks
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