Digest Number 1367: Lemon Balm Infused oil

[Guest guest]

I want to begin by saying that lemon balm is a weed in my yard. My niece

lived with me in 1993-94 and got a packet of mixed wild flower seeds and

spread them in my front flower bed (not knowing that I also had, hiding

under the soil there, some daffodils). The lemon balm, wall flowers and

some others came up, and some re-seeded from year to year or stayed as

perennials. The only one I KNOW for sure by name now (since the last of the

wallflowers died) is the lemon balm. I have beds of it. About this time of

year (late April in the Skagit Valley of Western Washington) it has come

back from its winter hiding out. The first frosts kill the leaves and I cut

the plants back in mid winter or very early spring (so the daffodils can

have their day!). About the time the daffodils are done, the lemon balm

takes over. You want to pick it when it has leafed out but not started to

go to flower tops and then seeds. What I do is cut enough to stuff into a

quart jar and fill it after the leaves are stripped off the plants and

anything yucky or dead is removed.

 

Then I take those leaves and cover them with olive oil to the brim and put

them in my blender or food processor. I am poor right now and use whatever

olive oil I can get my hands on often from the " Grocery Outlet " (often

called in the past Canned Foods or the Rainbow Store) though I suppose it

might be better with Extra Virgin or other light olive oil. I have a

Cuisinart 10 food processor and it will hold this, but if it looks like too

much I just divide it up. When thoroughly blended I put it back into the

quart jar(s) and store it in the pantry for four to six weeks or more

bringing it out to shake on a regular basis. Michael Moore in his Medicinal

Plants of the Pacific West (GREAT book which is part of a great series!)

says grind the herbs, store in the oil one week, bring it out and blend it

and warm it. My blend and then set and shake periodically for 4 to 6

weeks produces a dark green herby (NOT lemony) smelling oil. I usually

store it in the olive oil bottle it started out in and keep about 1 ounce

in the bathroom in a bottle that previously held lavender oil with maybe a

few drops more of lavender oil shaken in with it. I reach for it when I

have sore spots. I think I would have to drain off the herbs and go

through the process again and again to get any lemony smell because there

is so little in the leaves!

 

I did much the same one year with dried calendula from the local coop. I

didn't need to blend it but warmed it lightly and poured it in to a quart

jar and shook it often. I use both as the basis for salves or hand creams.

 

Serena

 

At 03:56 PM 4/30/04, you wrote:

> " Janice Avedissian " <jaavedis

>Re: Great List!!

>

>Dear Serena, How do you infuse lemon balm in oil and what kind of oil?

>Thanks. Jan

[Guest guest]

Dear Serena, Thank you so much for the directions. Do and Can you use this

for cooking? Thanks. Jan

-

" Serena DuBois " <serenadb

 

Friday, April 30, 2004 10:02 PM

Re: Digest Number 1367: Lemon Balm Infused oil

 

 

> I want to begin by saying that lemon balm is a weed in my yard. My niece

> lived with me in 1993-94 and got a packet of mixed wild flower seeds and

> spread them in my front flower bed (not knowing that I also had, hiding

> under the soil there, some daffodils). The lemon balm, wall flowers and

> some others came up, and some re-seeded from year to year or stayed as

> perennials. The only one I KNOW for sure by name now (since the last of

the

> wallflowers died) is the lemon balm. I have beds of it. About this time

of

> year (late April in the Skagit Valley of Western Washington) it has come

> back from its winter hiding out. The first frosts kill the leaves and I

cut

> the plants back in mid winter or very early spring (so the daffodils can

> have their day!). About the time the daffodils are done, the lemon balm

> takes over. You want to pick it when it has leafed out but not started to

> go to flower tops and then seeds. What I do is cut enough to stuff into a

> quart jar and fill it after the leaves are stripped off the plants and

> anything yucky or dead is removed.

>

> Then I take those leaves and cover them with olive oil to the brim and

put

> them in my blender or food processor. I am poor right now and use whatever

> olive oil I can get my hands on often from the " Grocery Outlet " (often

> called in the past Canned Foods or the Rainbow Store) though I suppose it

> might be better with Extra Virgin or other light olive oil. I have a

> Cuisinart 10 food processor and it will hold this, but if it looks like

too

> much I just divide it up. When thoroughly blended I put it back into the

> quart jar(s) and store it in the pantry for four to six weeks or more

> bringing it out to shake on a regular basis. Michael Moore in his

Medicinal

> Plants of the Pacific West (GREAT book which is part of a great series!)

> says grind the herbs, store in the oil one week, bring it out and blend it

> and warm it. My blend and then set and shake periodically for 4 to 6

> weeks produces a dark green herby (NOT lemony) smelling oil. I usually

> store it in the olive oil bottle it started out in and keep about 1 ounce

> in the bathroom in a bottle that previously held lavender oil with maybe a

> few drops more of lavender oil shaken in with it. I reach for it when I

> have sore spots. I think I would have to drain off the herbs and go

> through the process again and again to get any lemony smell because there

> is so little in the leaves!

>

> I did much the same one year with dried calendula from the local coop. I

> didn't need to blend it but warmed it lightly and poured it in to a quart

> jar and shook it often. I use both as the basis for salves or hand

creams.

>

> Serena

>

> At 03:56 PM 4/30/04, you wrote:

> > " Janice Avedissian " <jaavedis

> >Re: Great List!!

> >

> >Dear Serena, How do you infuse lemon balm in oil and what kind of oil?

> >Thanks. Jan

>

>

>

> Step By Step Instructions On Making Rose Petal Preserves:

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/rosejam.html

>

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