We’ve fallen in love with something special here that has a collection of amazing and somewhat eclectic benefits that include calming, boosting your immunity and a healthy dose of antioxidants for you and your skin.
What is Lemon balm?
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), a member of the mint family, is a perennial herb which embodies a gentle, lemony fragrance. This herb holds an abundance of benefits which have been widely used in Ancient Greece, over 2,000 years ago, to modern day England and North America.
Not only is lemon balm a sweet addition to your herb garden, but it is also a great complement to have in your herbal medicine cabinet. We are excited to feature this wonderful herb and its many internal, external, and creative do-it-yourself uses!
Lemon balm benefits
Within this balmy beauty lies a myriad of internal benefits. In fact, lemon balm has so many nutritive properties, we will highlight it’s most common uses.
Lemon balm for well being
The effects of lemon balm also help to relieve an over active mind and provide a sense of overall balance.
Lemon balm for immunity
Another amazing property of lemon balm is its ability to boost the immune system. It is very rich in caffeic and rosmarinic acids
Being that lemon balm is cleansing in nature, it contains an array of topical uses as well, providing wonderful properties for our skin. These include:
Calming
Lemon balm is a rich source of eugenol and tannins.
Antioxidant rich
What makes this herb a wonderful addition in skin care products? It’s ability to protect against environmental stressors. The caffeic and ferulic acid, which are present within this plant are potent antioxidants.
We have included lemon balm in several of Annmarie Skin Care products including the Aloe Herb Cleanser, Citrus Mint Cleanser, and our Herbal Facial Oil for Normal / Combination skin. Give them a try to receive the powerful antioxidants this beneficial plant has to offer!
Bug repellent
When it comes to pesky bug bites in the great outdoors, lemon balm serves as a natural bug repellent. It contains very high levels of an essential oil called citronellal, which helps to keep bugs at bay.
A quick and easy repellant is to crush a handful of lemon balm leaves in your hand and rub directly all over your skin, avoiding the face. If you spend a lot of time in your backyard where there may be mosquitos or other bugs, it would be wise to grow a small patch of it.
Lemon balm also attracts bees and butterflies, helping to pollinate your garden!
Available forms of lemon balm
Lemon balm is available in several different medicinal and topical forms including: loose-leaf teas, capsules, tinctures, glycerites, creams, salves, and essential oils. Lemon balm is often found in combination with other herbal formulas. Try steeping 1 tablespoon of fresh or dried lemon balm leaves in hot water for a daily cup of vitality.
Other creative, do-it-yourself uses for lemon balm are freezing the leaves in ice cube trays and adding to iced teas or lemonade, infusing in oils and vinegars for culinary use, and mixing dried leaves in potpourri. There are endless uses for this fragrant herb, so get creative with it!
I have a bunch of lemon balm in my garden. Thanks for sharing all the health benefits. My mother is always telling me to make tea out of it!
I grow and harvest it, by complete accident. But I love it. Very hardy plant. Great for making light & airy tea cookies and biscotti. I just made an extract. I’m scared of the color? tho. Thinking oil is my next feat. Oh also, dried some for tea. Love this stuff!
Great plant indeed. will be flowering in tropics in coming weeks… The plant is fully into the phased arrengement that contributes to earth’s environement sustained functions.
Flowering, pollination,then the rains in next phase to help grow pollinated materials.
How will it well combine with castor oil in cold infusion ?
Good article
Odd that you would use a picture of mint for an article about Lemon Balm.
Hi Veronica!
Mint and lemon balm are from the same family – Lamiaceae. Thus they look very similar and the photo in this article is in fact lemon balm. 🙂
Can lemon balm help with blephartis or on the eyelid?
Hi Patti,
Truthfully, we’re not sure. If you’re working with inflamed eyelids, we would suggest checking with an herbalist to see if they can give you a tea for your eyes to lessen the inflammation.
How do you use lemon balm for your face
Thanks for such a great tip. I used to grow lemon balm plants in my garden…I know its useful for digestion problems only.. With this post I get to know lot more benefits with this plants. So follow regularly these to add in my food habits.
My Holistic Dr. has me using it in combination with another herb to fix my hyperthyroid disease I have, which also gives me anxiety. It helps great for both!! My blood work has come back good and my anxiety is way better now.
I went to a conventional dr. who due to some things became very unkind to us and told me he would never treat me and said I would always have problems. I would love for him to see me now using only a natural source to help me and not on synthetic medication or having surgery as he said would happen to me….
Hi I too have hyperthyroidism with graves disease! These meds are horrible! My mom had recently broughtvme lemon balm oil! Can u please share with me what u do! I’m desperate! Ty!
I don’t really harvest my lemon balm, but I like to plant it close to wherever I will sit in the garden, because I like to grab a handful of leaves and crush them in my hands and inhale. It is very relaxing and I always have pots in several locations on the porch and beside the walkways. I wasn’t aware of the bug repellent use so that may be something I will be doing this summer while working in the garden.