Hi! Everybody!! I just tried something new and I wanted some feedback before I drank it. Instead of carefully peeling the leaves off the branch like I usually do when making lemon balm tea, I just dumped in the whole thing including the whole branch into the tea. Is this safe? I have never heard of making it this way. I just tried sipping on the mix and it tasted a little like salt.
Have a Good Day and nice weekend!!!
Thanks,
Chuck
Lemon Balm Tea
Chuck, I guess your tea is cold by now...
I googled, and all but one of the sites I found specified using leaves, but none cautioned against using the stems. I suspect that's where the salty taste came from, but I don't find anything to say it's harmful at all.
Google "lemon balm tea" and you'll find quite a few recipes! I need to print some out as the stuff is taking over my garden -- that and the basil. I'm making pesto tonight (if I remember to get the pine nuts...) and I'll make something with LB as well.
Hi, Chuck,
I have been throwing stems with leaves into the teapot since it saves time and mess, but never really gave thought to what I was doing other than cutting the time it takes to make tea from lemon balm. I realize that the stems of plants are the "factories" of their food, and um, perhaps contains chemicals and starches that we don't need/want. I looked to the good 'ol Government for guidance and this is what I found...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has an office called the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) that studies the ingredients of foods and edible plants and their impact on us humans, and pets, too. The CFSAN has a "database" that contains reference materials of scientific publications that deal with the subject you are interested in. I went there and searched "lemon balm" and found six publications on the subject. You can probably obtain the books/articles from the library. Read the FDA disclaimer: these publications are not censored for accuracy--they are scientific exchange and nothing is "offical" on the Government's perspective. Since herbs are still beting studied and things discovered everyday, the information lists get bigger and plant reputations change as more information becomes available. To visit the FDA/CFSAN plant information database, go to:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~djw/pltx.cgi?QUERY=lemon+balm
And some more thoughts on plant toxicity....
If you have any questions regarding poisonous plants, contact the Center for Poison Control in your area. The American Association of Poison Control Centers lists them at:
http://www.aapcc.org
And.....
Cornell University’s toxic plant database and info on toxins in plants, see
Plant List:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/alphalist.html
Toxins List:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/index.html
The plant list at Cornell U. includes color photos of the plants! Enjoy!