Linden vs lemon balm
Two soft European household infusions with almost no bitterness, and the practical difference is that one is gathered from a street tree over a fortnight and the other grows in any garden all summer.
botanical
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Linden flower | Lemon balm |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The blossom and bract of the lime trees planted through European cities. | A mint-family garden herb with a lemon scent. |
| Harvest | Roughly two weeks in early summer. Late-picked material goes hay-like. | Cut repeatedly through the season; young leaves are best. |
| Appearance | Pale flowers with a papery bract attached, light and bulky. | Crinkled green leaf, and it darkens noticeably in storage. |
| Flavour | Distinctly honeyed and slightly mucilaginous, with a rounder mouthfeel than most flowers. | Soft lemon over a green herbal base, gentler than lemon verbena. |
| Steeping | Improves at seven minutes and beyond, which is unusual. | Three to five minutes; longer pulls a grassy note. |
| Where it is the default | France, Turkey, Mexico and central Europe. | Across southern and central Europe, mostly domestically. |
| What to check | Flowers rather than mostly bract, which brews thin and papery. | Green rather than brown-grey; it fades faster than most leaves. |
The short answer
Linden is the more distinctive and the harder to over-brew. Lemon balm is the more available and the one you can grow in a pot.
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