Culinary and Medicinal Uses For Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is the herb to reach for when a herpes out break occurs. Many people know it as just Melissa from it's Latin botanical name, Melissa officinalis.

Lemon balm is not native to the U. S, but it is grown widely in many gardens. As a member of the mint family, it will spread wildly throughout your garden. Many people use is as an ornamental plant to attract bees and butterfiles to their gardens.

If you grow it in your garden, you can make an infusion to use on your cold sores. Brew a strong tea, and dab onto the cold sores. You would do this at least 3-4 times a day while the sore is present.

If you aren't lucky enough to have it growing in your garden, a lemon balm herpes healing salve will do the trick. Apply the salve 2-3 times a day. To keep the sores at bay, you can use it daily. Some folks have stopped their outbreaks by daily usage of lemon balm ointment.

For people who want an all natural way to effectively treat their symptoms of herpes, lemon balm is the herb of choice. Even those who have tried either OTC or prescription remedies rave about how well, and quickly lemon balm works.

Lemon balm contains the natural chemical eugenol. In studies, eugenol has been shown to heal the sores of both Herpes 1, and Herpes 2 in just a few days.

Lemon balm herb is widely used by herbalists to treat stress and anxiety. Lemon balm calms and soothes the nerves, and acts as a nerve tonic. Many times it is mixed with other nerve herbs. This would depend on the severity of the situation. Herbalists suggest lemon balm to be used as a tea, or a tincture.

Even Dr. Oz suggests the use of lemon balm for anxiety. On his show, he suggests using lemon balm tincture. A tincture is an herbal medicine made with alcohol. A tincture is normally added to a little warm water. If you are sensitive to alcohol, lemon balm can be made into a gylcerite. An herbal glycerite is made much the same way as a tincture, only the base is vegetable gylcerin or honey.

Fresh lemon balm leaves have a delicious, light flavor of lemon. When chopped up, the leaves can be used in sauces, added to butter, or baked on top of your favorite meat. A favorite chicken dish at our house, Lemon Balm Chicken Casserole is easy to make, and delicious to eat.

Lemon balm can also be made into a syrup for use on pancakes. Just follow a recipe on how to make a simple syrup. You can also add chopped fresh lemon balm leaves to sugar. Allowing the herb to sit in the sugar for a few days will give the sugar a wonderful lemony flavor. Use the sugar for recipes as you would any sugar.

When using lemon balm in recipes, it is best to use the fresh leaves. While dried lemon balm can be used, they do not have the same lemony taste as the fresh leaves do. Fresh is always best.