Recipe: Lemon Balm Syrup

A few days ago, I mentioned that I wanted to experiment with lemon balm in cocktails, so I got busy making lemon balm syrup. This was super easy to make and could be used to sweeten and flavor tea, punch, or could go in club soda for a refreshing lemony drink. My husband has decided that it's tasty with vodka, club soda and a slice of lemon.

Just to give you an idea, the syrup came out tasting like lemon heads candy! Who knew?

Without further ado, here is the recipe I used (it came from The Joy of Cooking):

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
a couple large-ish cuttings of lemon balm (still on the stem), washed and patted dry

Combine the sugar and water in a pot over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved (this part can take a while). Add the lemon balm, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, fish out the lemon balm and let cool before putting in a container (I use a glass jar, but wish I had something with a pour spout). Keep it in the fridge.

See? How easy is that? Do you have any great recipes for drink flavorings? Care to share?

New Addition: I'm Feeling Balmy

When my friend Jessica showed up at my door Monday night with a large bucket of lemon balm, I was ecstatic! She and her husband have a large vegetable garden and the lemon balm was taking over one of their garden boxes, so they passed some of it along to me! Here is a picture of it in its new home...

I've never grown lemon balm, but I knew it is in the mint family, so I decided to keep it in a pot to avoid the take-over situation Jessica ended up with. It has a lovely lemony/minty fragrance and I knew that it is edible. However, I wasn't sure what lemon balm is used for, so I did a little bit of research. Here's what I found:

1. Lemon balm is an herb in the mint family (already said this). This means it will grow EVERYWHERE and invade an entire bed if planted in the ground. I've even heard stories of mint growing UNDER driveways and coming up on the other side! That said, it should be contained.
2. Lemon balm is often used as a flavoring for ice cream (this sounds amazing) and tea. I'm also thinking of infusing a simple syrup with it. I think it would be stunning in a cocktail!
3. You can rub it on your skin for natural mosquito repellant!
4. It is self-sowing.
5. It attracts bees.
6.  Greek folklore recommended lemon balm as a cure for poisonings and mad dog bites (random fact of the day).

If you want to read more on lemon balm, here is the Wikipedia article I found. It has quite a bit of interesting information. There is also an interesting chapter on lemon balm in Herbs Demystified by Holly Phaneuf. You can pick up your own copy, or you can probably also find it at your local library.