Serving Lemon Balm Tea

A year or two ago I ordered some vegetable seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They frequently will send you a packet or two of free seeds with your order.  I always think this is a neat deal as it gives you the opportunity to grow something that you might not have ever planted.  Such is the case with the free package of Lemon Balm seeds that I got.  This year I planted them right next to a terra cotta pot of oregano on the back porch. The lemon balm is thriving.

Lemon balm is aptly named.  If you brush by the plant, it gives off a nice lemony fragrance.  If you look at the leaves, it might remind you of mint, and that's no coincidence for lemon balm is in the mint family.

So other than smelling lemon balm, what are other uses of it?  I read that you can add chopped lemon balm leaves at the very end of cooking either chicken or fish and it complements the dish well.  I also read (and I'm gonna try this because it sounds so good!) that you can soften butter and mix in 2 Tablespoons of minced lemon balm leaves and a little honey and then spread it on warm, homemade bread.

Today, though, I decided that I would make my wife and daughter a cup of lemon balm tea.  To do this, I cut a small bunch of lemon balm leaves and stems, washed them and put them in the bottom of a tea pot.  Then I boiled water and poured it over the lemon balm leaves and let it steep for 15 minutes.  At the end of the allotted time, I took the top off and inhaled deeply.  It smells real nice.

I poured the freshly-steeped lemon balm tea into teacups and brought them to my wife.

She really enjoyed it and said it was nice and relaxing.  I took a sip, too.  It seems like this would also be refreshing by serving it cold as iced tea.  We have a couple of months of summer left, so I'll try this for sure.  Lemon Balm tea.  Soothing and delicious.