Hi, all! Hope you’re doing well and enjoying your summer! Now that the summer weather is in full swing, my garden is really starting to grow, including my lemon balm plants. What is lemon balm, you ask? It’s a lemon-flavored and scented herb from the same family as mint- meaning it’s pleasantly fragrant and deliciously flavored, but also that it grows like a weed and takes over! In the interest of keeping my plants to a reasonable size, I had to give my four plants a substantial trim today- and of course I didn’t want those trimmings to go to waste! I was trying to figure out what to do with the leaves I cut, and finally landed on the idea of making a lemon balm simple syrup. I was so happy with the results of both the syrup and the resulting drink I made that I knew I had to share it. Here’s the recipe for the syrup:

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• At least 2 cups lemon balm leaves, more if you have them

In a medium or large saucepan (depending on how many leaves you use), mix the water and sugar.

Add the lemon leaves into the pot and stir to incorporate.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the lemon flavor is infused to your taste, stirring occasionally.

Strain the mixture into a heatproof container and let cool. The mixture should have a slight yellow-green tint from the lemon balm leaves.

And that’s it! Bottle it up and refrigerate it, or use some right away in this yummy drink recipe:

• 2 oz lemon balm simple syrup
• 3 oz lemon juice
• 4 oz tonic water

Mix all ingredients together in a tall glass. Add ice if desired.

Both the syrup and the drink recipes would also work very well with mint. Feel free to experiment with other herbs as well- who knows what awesome combinations you could come up with!

Happy cooking and drinking!