Herbs To Know - Lemon Balm

By Rita Shimniok, Purely Living Wellness

What is your favorite medicinal herb? I often tell my clients, if you grow only one herb that is wonderful not only as a culinary herb, but also as a tea and medicinal herb – it would be Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis). It is one of my favorite herbs, and hardy where I live in Wisconsin, Zone 4. A part of the mint family, Lemon Balm is easy to grow.

There is much information available on Lemon Balm. It is a particularly good herb for the nervous system, due to its richness in volatile oils, specifically citral and citronellal, and has many benefits for relieving stress. It has anti-viral properties and helps to remedy cold sores and shingles, and herpes simplex. Drink several cups of lemon balm tea throughout the day if you are having a shingles outbreak!

As well, lemon balm is reported to help to control heart palpitations, lowers blood pressure while protecting the heart. In addition, lemon balm contains powerful anti-fungal properties and helps to control candida, and other fungi that take hold in the body. Yet another benefit of lemon balm is that it improves cognitive function and memory, contains anti-inflammatory properties. The citral oil found in lemon balm also aids in digestion, and is a good sipping tea following a meal.

Lemon Balm is a bright addition to salads, especially chicken salads, during summer months. Or, add finely chopped lemon balm to a fresh fruit salad, or on top of watermelon - you may be surprised! Many are familiar with lemon-chicken recipes. Enhance the recipes with fresh lemon balm. Serve a poultry dish with lemon balm as a garnish, and encourage your dinner guests to chew on the garnish after dinner to aid in their digestion. I assure you, they will be impressed!

In the fall, before frost, harvest, dry and crush the leaves for use on poultry dishes during the winter months. You can snip stems of lemon balm from the plant, and use cotton string to tie in a bundle and hang in your kitchen near your stove. A mortar and pestle is not necessary - as dried lemon balm crushes very easily with your hands. You can store the crushed citrus-scented dried leaves in a glass jar with a lid, or store in a spice jar.

When tincturing my herbs, Lemon Balm is found in several blends that I make for various purposes – such as my immune boosting elderberry blend, a mood boosting tincture, and a new blend God recently guided me to blend, called The Lemon Bomb, which uses a variety of herbs with “lemon-y” properties – potent sources for the beneficial volatile oils to support the nervous system, and address pathogens.

This coming spring, if you are considering a venture into medicinal herbs – I encourage you to get to know and grow lemon balm. Because of its yellow-green leaves, it makes a nice accent plant with a blooming annual, such as geranium, where one might otherwise use a decorative coleus. You might pair it with other herbs that add zest to poultry dish – such as rosemary and lemon thyme. Lemon Balm can be grown in a pot, and brought inside for the winter if you like. Or plant it in the ground…it does well for me in both full sun and partial shade.

Last but not least, it smells and tastes wonderful! Growing Lemon Balm will certainly brighten your mood – I give thanks and twist off a leaf to chew every time I water my plants. It is truly number one on my list of herbs to grow, and I hope you will consider it when making your own list of which herbs to grow for the benefit of your family this year.

This information is provided for educational purposes only. Purely Living nor Rita Shimniok make any claims to treat or cure any dis-ease with herbs. Please see your trusted physician for your medical concerns.