Plant Stories
Lemon Balm
Melissa officinalis
Brush past lemon balm and the air turns to lemon. It is a soft, sprawling, cheerful plant that asks for nothing and spreads with enthusiasm. In the kitchen it is one of the friendliest herbs to start with — good in drinks, good in desserts, good in the teapot at the end of the day.
- Family
- Lamiaceae (mint family)
- Also called
- Balm, melissa; melissa in Russian
- Parts used
- Leaves, best before flowering
- Where I meet it
- Everywhere it isn't supposed to be — it seeds into every corner of the garden
Knowing it
A mint-family plant with a square stem and opposite, heart-shaped, round-toothed leaves with a wrinkled surface. Crush a leaf: the lemon scent is unmistakable. Small white flowers appear in midsummer in the leaf joints.
Gathering
Cut stems just before the plant flowers, in the morning after the dew dries. Cut hard; it grows back for a second and sometimes third harvest.
Drying & keeping
Dry quickly in thin bunches or on screens, out of sun — the scent fades fast with slow drying or heat. Store whole leaves and crumble when using.
Preparing
Fresh leaves in cold drinks and lemonades; fresh or dried in hot tea. It pairs beautifully with chamomile, linden, and honey.
What is known
Lemon balm has been a calming household herb for centuries — a tea for restless evenings, nervous stomachs, and low spirits. Seventeenth-century Carmelite nuns made a famous lemon balm water.
Its Latin name, Melissa, is Greek for honeybee. Beekeepers once rubbed hives with the leaves to make new swarms feel at home.
A pot of lemon balm and chamomile tea is the signal in our house that the day is over. Even the smell seems to slow everyone down.
Some small studies suggest lemon balm may have mild calming effects and support sleep, often in combination with other herbs. The European Medicines Agency recognises it as a traditional herbal medicine for mild stress and sleep.