Lemon balm
Melissa officinalis
A lemon-scented mint that runs. Fresh leaves make a gentle tea and fruit-salad herb. Dried leaf is hay-like compared with fresh. Not bee balm (Monarda).
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: balm, Melissa
What it is
A lemon-scented mint that runs. Fresh leaves make a gentle tea and fruit-salad herb. Dried leaf is hay-like compared with fresh. Not bee balm (Monarda).
From the existing encyclopedia
Lemon Balm has a long folk history; modern aaaLifetime pages focus on food-grade pantry use, not treatment claims. Buy food-grade quality from suppliers who publish lot and origin; avoid mystery bulk without COA for sensitive items. Mix into lentil, bean, or whole-grain bowls for texture and flavor depth. When substituting dried Lemon Balm for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- leaves
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 4–9
- Light. Sun to part shade
- Soil. Moist, average; will survive neglect
- Planting. Contain it or it becomes the bed. Cut hard when it flops.
- Harvest. Young leaves before flowering for the brightest lemon.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. Use more dried leaf than you would fresh; aroma fades. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Fresh tea
- Fruit salad
- Pesto experiments with mixed herbs
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.