Lemon Balm Tea

If you've never grown lemon balm, then you may not know that it reseeds prolifically, and is also a perennial that spreads. I had gotten fed up a few years ago, and pulled all of mine out, and put one plant in a pot. I didn't put any on my compost pile, because I have had mint grow in there before, and was afraid that would happen with the lemon balm.

I have a separate place next to my compost pile that I put a lot of dead heads and plants that spread, so that if they start to grow, I can take care of it right there, and not have it all over the garden.

Well, I have some lemon balm that somehow got started at the entry to my veggie garden a couple years ago next to the black eyed Susan that also got started there, not by me. It is getting larger each year, so I'm going to have to do something about that. I do cut it back to keep it from blooming. The other day, I decided to make some tea using the method I've been using with mint.

The lemon balm is on the right.

My method of making mint or lemon balm tea:

Put sprigs of mint or lemon balm in a gallon jar, with or without 2 or 3 decaf tea bags. (I just remembered I also made some the other day with pineapple sage sprigs the other day.)

Pour some water the temperature you would use to make hot tea into the jar and let it steep 5 to 10 minutes. (I usually add enough water heated in my electric tea pot to submerge the leaves and stems, but it still turned out fine with some poking out.)

Remove the leaves and tea bags, add cold water to the jar, and refrigerate.

Have a blessed Sunday!