Spicy and medicinal plant. It has a strong pleasant smell of lemon and a bitter-spicy taste; is an excellent honey plant.
A rosette of leaves up to 60 cm high. Grows in one place for 3-5 years (can grow up to 10 years). Greenery is harvested at the beginning of flowering of plants, starting from the 2nd year - 2-3 cuttings of young shoots along with leaves are made per season.
The period from germination to cutting (in the 2nd year of growing season) is 60 days. The yield of green mass is 4.3 kg/m2. Dry in the shade, in a ventilated area.
Young leaves are eaten fresh and dried, as a seasoning for salads, meat and fish dishes, when pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, as a flavoring for vinegar, for flavoring liqueurs and tinctures, and brewed as tea.
Valued for its high content of vitamin C, carotene, essential oils; has a tonic ability. Infusions of lemon balm reduce shortness of breath, heart pain, and help with colic and neuroses.