My kids have taken to bringing me home a little bouquet of lemon balm each evening, to mix into my fruit salad/yoghurt/muesli mix in the mornings. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a patch of it growing wild in our street (see pic). So bargain – free herbs!

Lemon balm’s natural partner is fruit and dairy i.e. cream or yoghurt. It’s nice chopped and blended into a homemade ice cream or sorbet. Or made into a lemony sugar syrup for drinks (vodka especially!). It’s a member of the mint family and is also good with fish, chicken, in stuffings, salads and some vegetables (anything where you would use lemon and/or parsley, basically). Try chopping it and beating it into softened, salted butter, then chill/freeze into a log shape, wrapped in clingfilm. Then cut off a slice to pop onto white fish or  salmon. Slather it onto boiled potatoes or green beans perhaps (not all at the same meal – use sparingly). Don’t overdo it as it can be a bit “soapy”, like coriander. I have even used it in a Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, just to add another dimension of lemonyness (is that a word?). Or a Lemon Drizzle cake could benefit from it too. Why not also attempt a Lemon Balm Mint Jelly for serving with lamb, cold meats, ham and cheese etc – it could make a nice addition to a School Bake Sale. Follow a Mint Jelly recipe but substitute our free herb. Please post your ideas too…

Also, judging by how prolifically it grows in our street, despite being cut back to nothing each year, it seems almost indestructible. My kind of gardening. Put it in a pot on a windowsill too, although I think it likes to spread and put out new shoots each growing season, like mint.