You can use lemon balm to make your own insect repellant, thanks to the high concentration of citronellal in the plant. Lemon balm is useful outside the kitchen, too. And you can even make candied flowers from the blossoms-how delicately delightful! It’s delicious when used in poultry recipes and also pairs well with fish. How about ice cream? Salad dressings? Cake? Lemon balm can be chopped fresh and added to an array of sweet and savory recipes from salads and soups to butter and bread. You can also make lemon balm syrups that are then used in baked goods or beverages. It can be delicious in iced or hot tea, punch and juice. Lemon balm is probably best known for its use in teas. But it’s also wonderful in cooking, baking and beverages. One of the best ways to use lemon balm is to simply crush the leaves with your fingers and smell the glorious lemon scent. You can also freeze it in vegetable oil or water. Lemon balm is often used fresh, but if you want to preserve it, just hang it upside down in small bunches to dry.
If you don’t want it to spread, trim back the plant before it goes to seed. There are lots of opinions about the best time to harvest it for peak flavor, so you may want to experiment to find the sweet spot. It’s generally hardy to USDA zone 4-it overwintered in my zone 4a garden and came back beautifully in the spring. You can establish this herb by seed, by division, or by stem cuttings. Allow generous spacing between plants and don’t be afraid to thin your lemon balm by harvesting stems to allow more air to circulate. Powdery mildew can be an issue (unless you choose a cultivar that has some resistance), but you can help prevent the disease by providing good airflow around plants. Animals generally avoid it, so you don’t have to worry about deer decimating your lemon balm plants.
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It’s even possible to grow it indoors although it isn’t considered ideal.īut the good attributes don’t stop there: lemon balm is also relatively free from pests and diseases.
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It is a member of the mint family, and it shares mint’s tendency to take over the garden, although unlike mint, lemon balm spreads mostly by seed.Įasy to grow (after all, it’s a mint!), it isn’t particularly picky about its situation and can do well in full sun or part sun, in well-drained soil or soil that’s slightly moist, in garden beds or in containers. But don’t confuse it with bee balm! Bees love both plants and both are “balms,” however, lemon balm is completely distinct from bee balm ( Monarda didyma). This is a bushy and compact plant that reaches approximately 2 feet tall and wide and produces delicate pale flowers that bees adore. In 2007, the International Herb Association honored it as its Herb of the Year, a designation that recognizes superlative herbs that are “outstanding in at least two of the three major categories: medicinal, culinary or decorative.” Lemon balm amply meets the criteria.Ī closer look at its botanical name reveals more: Melissa is Greek for honey bee, while officinalis is a Latin word related to medicine. Its presence in North America is said to date back to Colonial times, and by the 1820s, lemon balm seeds were regularly advertised in newspapers along with other herbs and plants.įast forward about 200 years. Lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis) is native to Europe, but over the centuries it has naturalized widely across the globe. Shakespeare mentioned it in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Homer referred to it in The Odyssey. It may not have achieved the fame of those herbal staples basil and mint, but lemon balm might surprise you with its versatility and its long history. It’s sometimes called common balm, garden balm, balm mint, dropsy plant, honey plant, Melissa, sweet balm or heart’s delight-but it’s usually known as lemon balm.
It’s easy to overlook amongst the sunflowers and the summer squash and the snapdragons.īut let’s take a closer look at this unobtrusive and unassuming herb. As your eyes drift across the garden, you might not immediately notice the bushy herb with the jagged-edged leaves.