Lemon Balm

 

Lemon balm is believed to be most useful in the areas of helping digestive problems, relieving pain, and aiding mental disorders, and is also very handy for soothing anxiety and restlessness. 

When applied to the skin, lemon balm can heal cold sores and sooth insect bites. It's also a mosquito repellent.  

I decided to try and make a lemon balm tincture. I'm not using vodka or any other kind of alcohol (obviously), so I tried the apple cider vinegar method. ACV isn't going to make as potent and useful a concoction as other versions would, but it can be used for salad dressing, hair rinse, and herbal baths. And the healing and calming benefits still reside.

--Lemon Balm Apple Cider Vinegar Tincture--

I picked several stalks of the herb from my garden, generally selecting the largest ones from the perimeter of the patch. It grows like crazy and will keep expanding and filling out. 

Brush off any dirt with a dry paper towel... I was reluctant to rinse them and lose any of the oils, but you can do that if you want. 

Strip off all your leaves and chop them up. Load them into a sterile jar- press lightly, but don't pack them down.

Pour in your vinegar (you could also use red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, etc, just not white vinegar) so that it just covers the lemon balm. You can warm the vinegar slightly before hand to help steep the leaves, but room temperature will suffice.

Shake the mixture well and store in a cool, dark area for four weeks, shaking well twice a day. After this period, strain your leaves from the liquid using a cheesecloth or muslin. Shelf life should last between one and two years if stored properly.

I'll let you all know what I use it for and how it goes once I've completed the process myself. :)

--Dried Lemon Balm--

I picked three little bundles of lemon balm and bound them with rubber bands, hanging them in the open air for three days. 

If they had been a little bit dryer, I would have been able to crumble them in the wax paper, bit as it was, they were just stiff enough for me to pluck from the stems and still have the entire leaves. 

So, these dried leaves I will keep in a jar for tea when the season for fresh lemon balm has passed into Autumn. I think I'll dry a bunch of the wild spearmint that grows  by our creek, too, because that would mix well with the lemon. 

...But so long as there is still fresh lemon balm, it makes a wonderful tea, mixed with raw honey. 

For best results, crush the leaves with a spoon before adding hot water.

And look! My bee balm is back, tall and glorious. ^_^