If blog posts were scratch n sniff, this would be amazing – the scent of lemon verbena is a citrus-packed heady oomph of sherbet lemons and something much more sophisticated and almost floral.
It makes you feel better just by smelling it, which is why lemon verbena is a popular choice for people looking for an uplifting and relaxing scent. It’s popular in yoga and meditation classes for just this reason. Essential oil of lemon verbena is packed full of skin renewing antioxidants.
Our Druid’s Rest soap combines lemon verbena’s benefits with vervain, a herb known for its relaxing and calming properties.
• Add a handful of lemon verbena leaves to a bowl of sugar and let it infuse for a few days – it will give a lemony loveliness to teas, cakes and cooking
• Make a cocktail with lemon verbena by measuring equal amounts of water and sugar, and adding half that amount of lemon verbena – as a guide, if you use 500ml water and 500mg sugar, weigh out 250g fresh or 200g dried. Dissolve sugar in the boiling water, turn down the heat to as low as it will go and add in the lemon verbena. Infuse for about 15 minutes, then strain. It’s a great mixer for cocktails and it’ll keep for weeks in the fridge
• Add a few leaves to a steam facial to brighten and destress
• Make ice-cream by infusing lemon verbena leaves into the hot milk and cream, then letting it stand for a day so the flavour develops
• Have an uplifting cuppa with a teaspoon of dried lemon verbena leaves steeped in boiling water for 5 minutes. It really does put a brighter view on the day
How easy is that?
Growing
Best to grow your lemon verbena in a pot. It will thrive in full sun and sheltered spots in the summer, but keep your plant in the greenhouse over winter as hates cold or frosts. You can take leaves from it throughout summer and autumn, and when the leaves start to fall (it’s deciduous) dry your leaves and wait for fresh ones in spring.
Storing the leaves Store it by air drying upside down in a brown paper bag. Then once they are dry enough to snap the stems, strip off the leaves and add to a jar storing in a dark place to keep those essential oils in.
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