Descriptions of Plants: Lemon Balm

The Elixir of Life

Family: Lamiaceae (mint)

INCI: Melissa officinalis

Parts Used: Leaf

Life Cycle: Perennial

Our Uses: Hydrosols, extracts, teas.

Aroma: Lemony. Light, fresh, green. Like laying in a newly sprouted field.

Good For: Calming (nervine), Uplifting, Antioxidant, Cooling, Nourishing, Astringent, Antiviral, Antibacterial.

High In: Antioxidants, Tannins.

Lemon Balm is an in-house favorite at Maison/Made. In the studio we use the herb not only in our formulations, but we also drink it as a tea quite frequently, as well as spritz its aromatic hydrosol deliberately (maybe too much, bottles don’t last long!) and mix it with our rejuvenating facial oil serum to create a creamy texture before massaging into our face and neck. It is a wonderfully calming and sedative herb, an excellent nerve tonic, being also well-known among herbalists for its promotion of longevity and its cooling, soothing, and antioxidant effects.

Particularly pertinent to today (May of 2020), lemon balm even has slight antiviral qualities from its tannin content which is likely why we almost always have some lemon balm tea brewing lately 😊.

“Balm makes the heart merry and joyful.” ~ Ancient Arabian proverb

Its use as a medicinal plant dates back over 2000 years (as many of our classic botanicals do) to the ancient Greeks and Romans who used it for its uplifting and calming properties and for promoting health. In fact, the specific epithet, officinalis, means “used in medicine” indicating that the species has historic medicinal uses (a good rule of thumb when looking at the INCI of any plant), essentially meaning it’s an OG of the medicinal plant world. For the Romans, lemon balm was associated with the feminine, the moon and water, and was considered a sacred herb in the temple of the Ancient Roman goddess Diana. According to magical folklore, the herb has powers of healing, success and love, and was made into actual balms to serve these purposes for centuries.

In more modern times numerous studies have documented the improvement of mood, calmness, and alertness and even increasing people’s mathematical processing speed! It has even been suggested that its effects on memory and calmness could make it a good candidate for Alzheimer’s prevention research. Its antiviral properties have also garnered some esteem for treating herpes and cold sores, and aqueous extracts have been effective against the influenza virus.

A wonderfully deep green herb, it is oftentimes mistaken for a common weed (if there is such a thing), growing and spreading rapidly and easily. It is a great botanical for beginners as it grows in a variety of climates, soils, and sun exposures making it a great addition to any garden (or even windowsill). 

It also comes as no surprise that it has amazing benefits for the skin. For skin care, its leaves can be used in oil-based extracts (like in our Extrait de Maison Oil Serum) as well as being steam distilled for hydrosols and essential oils. We prefer its hydrosol as the production of its essential oil necessitates a very large quantity of plant material, putting into question the sustainability of cultivating lemon balm for use in EO production, while the distilling for hydrosols not only provide the volatile hydrophilic phytochemical compounds (i.e. the water-loving ones) but also small amounts of the lipophilic components (oil-loving) that would be much more concentrated in the essential oil. Its properties are particularly good for oily or allergy-prone skin, which shows the benefits of the calming and astringent effects.

The process for distilling for hydrosol vs essential oil is also a different technique albeit with the same tools (a copper or steel still), and this means that the source of the hydrosol matters quite a bit, particularly with lemon balm. The voyage that these waters take from distillation to storage to distribution to final delivery is actually quite fragile, and probably one of the main reasons the quality varies greatly. We went through many different suppliers before we found one that had the quality and purity we were looking for, not to mention the fact that there is rampant adulteration in the distribution of products labelled as a “hydrosol”. As we mentioned in a previous post, products with the word “hydrosol” can contain anything from distilled water with a few drops of essential to simply lemon balm infused water.

But when the water source, distillation technique, storage, and transportation is correctly done? It’s almost magical. The alchemic transformation of the botanical compounds yield a product that feels as if it was made in a lab, but of course wasn’t. And this is true particularly for lemon balm because of the hundreds of compounds that it contains, really only extractable through this particular process. Also, soon to be available here at Maison/Made, Certified Biodynamic of course 😉. Head to our waitlist to know when we release it.

xo,

– Carolina

Sources:

- The Herb Society of America (2007) - Lemon Balm - An Herb Society of America Guide

- The therapeutic properties of Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.): Reviewing novel findings and medical indications - Katarzyna Świąder1, Katarzyna Startek, Christofora Hanny Wijaya. Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality. DOI:10.5073/JABFQ.2019.092.044.

- Rose, J. (1999) - 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols. Berkeley, CA. North Atlantic Books.

- Schnaubelt, K. (2011) - The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils. The Science of Advanced Aromatherapy. Rochester, VA. Healing Arts Press

- Brendler, Thomas, et al. 2005. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.): an evidence-based systematic review by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. Journal of herbal pharmacotherapy 5 (4):71-114

- Leung, Albert Y. and Steven Foster. 2003. Encyclopedia of common natural ingredients used in food, drugs and cosmetics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience.