Easy Herbs: 4/15: Lemon Balm

Fifteen Easy Herbs
No. 4 Lemon Balm
Balm has been touched, smelled, chewed, drunk, eaten and appreciated for thousands of years.
How to grow it:
As a hardy perennial, lemon balm is one of the easiest; she (the botanical name is Melissa) will grow in average soil that holds moisture well without staying soggy. A mostly sunny spot is ideal. The flavor is best before blooming, so the energetic herb gardener will get out there & prune her back to be sure she grows nice & bushy and tasty. But it’s no crime to let lemon balm bloom for the bees. That’s one of the good things about the easy herbs: you don’t have to be embarrassed when they get a little out of control. A neat & tidy herb garden looks nice, but the blooming, rambling, random, seed producing look has a charm all its own. A true herb lover will look at a friend’s weedy, overgrown patch and pronounce it “Lush”.
How to eat (drink) it:
Soothing tea. That’s almost all you need to know about lemon balm. A small handful of fresh or dried leaves in a teapot will not need any sugar to taste good. Be sure to put a leaf or two into your cup, too, because it looks so pretty! Further, sprigs of lemon balm will help to flavor a fruit salad, or a pot roast. And as garnish, it can be used anywhere.
Next herb: Another aromatic lady, Rosemary.

Lemon Balm Cheesecake
Pastry: 1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
Filling: 1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons honey
12 ounces cream cheese
2 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons very finely chopped lemon balm

Preheat the oven to 4000.
Pastry: Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Mix in the oil until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, using about 2 to 3 tablespoons. Mix until the flour is moistened and the dough almost cleans the side of the bowl. (If the dough seems dry, 1 to 2 tablespoons of canola oil can be added, but do not add water.)
Gather the dough into a ball. Roll out between two pieces of waxed paper to 2 inches larger than a 7-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Peel off the top paper; do a flip, placing the pastry, paper side up, in the pan. Peel off the paper, and ease the pastry loosely into the pan. Trim edge even with the lip of the pan, and prick well with a fork all over, including the sides, at 1/2-inch intervals.
Bake 12 minutes.
Filling: Beat the butter, honey and cream cheese together until soft and creamy. Beat in the eggs and fold in the lemon balm.
Reduce the oven temperature to 3500. Pour the filling into the pastry. Bake for 45 minutes until the filling is golden and set. Cool the pan on a rack, then remove the pastry and set it on a flat plate.
Makes 8 servings.