The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Herbs => Topic started by: Lesley Silvester on April 27, 2012, 06:19:25 pm
-
I have a huge lemon balm plant in my garden. I have to tie it up everyyear as it is very tall and falls over. Can anyone tell me what it's good for? I never see it in recipe books.
-
It can be used in any cooking, I often use it in fish dishes, it has a mild taste when cooked. It goes well in stir fries too.
-
lemon balm is the absolute king of herbs in my kitchen!!
it adds a distinct lift to most dishes, goes in all my pasta cooking and most of my fish dishes and chicken too.
or make a tea from it, like you would for mint.
you can harvest it at least twice.
-
i find younger leaves are the best. good in thai food if you have no lemon grass.
-
don't the goats like it?
mine do... & the porkers!
-
Thanks for starting the thread MGM .
One of the packets of seed we got yesterday for sowing is Lemon Balm .
We got seeds because the garden centre wanted £4. 35 for a single 4 inch plant pot with one plant in it .
A pack of 250 or so seeds was £1.98, less members discount coupons .
Can you use the balm raw in salads & drinks or does it have to be cooked ?
-
Remember that it takes over the garden.
-
I'm not into herb teas, but someone once made me Lemon Balm tea and it was delicious. They just got a lot of the herb, put it in the teapot and poured on boiling water. Obviously served without milk - it was really lovely.
-
keeps the midges at bay too.
-
It can be used fresh, no cooking necessary plantoid
-
it can be very vigorous but if harvested regularly wont be invasive. grow it in poor soil too.
-
We grow it in pots successfully. I just love picking some and crushing it in my fingers. :)
-
We grow it in pots successfully. I just love picking some and crushing it in my fingers. :)
it is most pleasant eh!
-
It can be added to home made candles and helps keeps insects at bay. Also refreshing as a salve for headaches on hot summer days.
-
My neighbour made me lemon balm and chocolate mint tea last year. It was yummy.
Think I saw a recipee somewhere for Lemon Balm cake. Will try to find it. Could have been in Country Kitchen Mag.
-
Thank you everyone. I eat a lot of fish so will start using it when cooking. Lemon balm cake sounds delicious. Hope you find the recipe. As a hot drink, I mostly have hot water with a slice of lemon infused in it so I'll try it with lemon balm.
-
so as a result of this thread i had a good look round the site to see if we have some. sure enough we do! :thumbsup:
-
hmm...wonder waht lemon balm wine would taste like........
-
hmm...wonder waht lemon balm wine would taste like........
if it is anything like limoncello i'm in!
-
hmm...wonder waht lemon balm wine would taste like........
If you make some, I'll be happy to give my opinion. ;D
-
Our medical herbalist friend told us to sort my wife's stress related conditon out she should drink lemon balm tea made by soaking the fresh young leaves in hot water. By co-incidence a new cluster of 'weeds' had started growing by the gate. Turned out to be lemon balm! The sheep loved it and they were always pretty relaxed -now we know why.
-
It can be a thug in good soil so mind where you plant it! ;D ;D We are forever digging it out and chucking it in the compost bins.
-
It is very good at tempting a rabbit in gut stasis to start eating again alongside the appropriate drugs.
Also I find a steam inhalation very soothing when I get a cold.
It can help with mild depression and is a good stress reliever too.
The oil mixed 50% 50% with lavender and rubbed onto the temples is the fastest cure for a headache I know of.
Dried and mixed with lavender again will send you to sleep in a blink if you put it in your pillowcase.
It's lovely in Pimms too :yum:
-
Dried and mixed with lavender again will send you to sleep in a blink if you put it in your pillowcase.
oooh, I'll try that..
... only 5 more sleeps til Christmas for insomniacs like me! ;) :D
-
Lemon Balm is amazing!! at the risk of repeating other posts; it makes fab tea; great for calming nerves, its great in salads, with fish or chicken, great replacement for lemon grass, its great in a rub for bbq-s, a great skin cleanser - apparently, and if you add it to lemon drizzle cakes you'll be amazed!! It also has great healing properties so if you suffer from hayfever so can be used as a dicongestant or antihisthamine. personally though, we use it most in Pimms ;D
-
hurrah, god save the queen!! :wave:
-
might try some tea tomorrow, could do with chilling out! :D
-
As it's the mint family (some books call it lemon mint) it often can be used instead. I just made mint syrup with half lemon balm - nice! I like the tea better than mint :&>
-
A big bunch under the tap whilst you are filling the bath is lovely too )AH I miss my bath only a shower at the moment!!)
-
I'd be lost without it - Chuck a good handful in a wok with chicken / fish & stir fry it with course ground black pepper, Even the kids love it!!
Colliewoman... I'll give it a go when I have an out of sorts rabbit, that's always handy to know!
-
we've got masses of the stuff in our poly-tunnel and the bees love it - according to an old folklore the leaves should be rubbed inside a beehive just before introducing a swarm. We've used it every-time and it never fails!
-
I wasn't impressed with it as a tea but my goats love it. I've now got my friend bringing all hers round for them. Just waiting to get lemon flavoured milk. ;D
-
We hung it up in the milking shed during the mossy summer then Simone snatched it and ate it on her way out one day! :roflanim: ungrateful or what!
-
bit of thread resurrection here :innocent:
As far as I know lemon balm is one of those natural oestrogen producing plants, for ladies of a certain age (like me) it has benefits :thumbsup:
-
For crimbo & my birthday I was given a set of three books by James Wong the oriental herbalist .
Lemon balm features highly in all sorts of his remedies . I just like laying down on the bed of it and rollingn over once or twice .. I'd love a dwarf version to try and make a lawn of it.
-
I only have his first 2 books but the third does look like a resolution breaker to me (no books until the heaps of unread ones are gone ;) ). reference books don't count or do they? I have the best intentions to do something this year with all that lovely lemon balm that grows here ... :&>
-
I can recomend lemmon balm in a bath lovely.
-
Just picked up on this old thread and am now jealous, my lemon balm was in a big decorative garden pot for years then died :(.
My next trip to anywhere that sells herbs will see me treating myself I think. :thumbsup:
-
I used to have loads of the stuff, only a tiny pot now.....thanks for finding it again, I may chuck it into some stir fry :thumbsup:
-
I think mine has been killed... :( By the mint!
-
MInt does things like that. I grow mine in a pot for that reason.