Seasonings - culinary herbs are medicines - lemon balm


        SEASONINGS - CULINARY HERBS ARE MEDICINES - LEMON BALM
Lemon balm is often grown in kitchen gardens, its pleasant aroma not only attracting humans but also bees which feed on its nectar. It makes a fine tea, and if your nerves are frayed and need calming, a cup at bedtime, sweetened with honey for an even better effect, will help you sleep since it is mildly soporific. Many women like to drink the tea because it is good for menstrual problems and cramps. In days gone by, balm tea was recommended for tobacco poisoning. And in the seventeenth century the Carmelite monks in Paris prepared an excellent 'balm spirit' that soon became famous. The ingredients were lemon balm, betony leaves, lemon peel, a little coriander, cloves and cinnamon.
Although you may know lemon balm mainly for its use as a tea, it can also be added to food for flavouring. It may also be true that few people know of another application of balm; the fresh leaves can be crushed and gently rubbed on bee or wasp stings. This has a soothing and healing effect, similar to that obtained by applying crushed ivy leaves.
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Herbal
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