It's that time of year again when apple mint, lemon verbena, and lemon balm are flourishing in my garden and I can have the benefit of them for herb tea. I saw Monty Don the other evening on BBC television's gardening programme, Gardener's World, saying how wonderful pepper mint is for tea. He mentioned that apple mint is good to have with potatoes. I've never tried it as I like potatoes (I buy Charlotte, Jersey, and Vivaldi -my favourite composer) just as they are. Today I had
apple mint and lemon verbena tea. I just cut stems of the plants back to a leaf joint, strip the leaves off the stems, wash the leaves, and pour boiling water of them. Leave for a while. I like the drink either hot or cold.
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| Apple Mint - has hairy leaves. Tastes great as a herb tea |
Lemon verbena packs a stronger lemon flavour than balm, but balm tends to grow faster. I grow all my herbs in their own containers.
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Lemon verbena
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| Lemon balm |
