Try this cooling summer drink: To the juice of half a lemon add several balm leaves and several mint leaves crushed, then fill the glass with half apple juice and half lemonade.
Lemon Balm Stuffing
From Rennaissance times comes this old recipe for a piquant stuffing for duck.
Stuff the washed dried duck with the following mixture: an equal quantity of tart apples peeled and coarsely chopped, and uncooked stoned prunes. Chop well a good handful of lemon balm leaves, and mix all together. Stuff loosely inside the duck, and roast as required. This mixture absorbs and breaks down the fatty texture of the duck flesh, as well as being a delightful seasoning. Puncture the bird in all the fatty places, and allow the juices of the stuffing to penetrate.
Bananas with Strawberries
Try this variation on a hot banana dish which can be made in only a few minutes.
6 or 8 firm bananas 1\4 cup brown sugar
8 or 10 lemon balm leaves, chopped finely 1 tablespoon rum or brandy Fresh strawberries
Peel, and slice the bananas in half crossways. Heat a little butter in a heavy frying pan or oven-top cooking dish, and saute the bananas lightly. Add the sugar, stirring well, then the rum and the lemon balm leaves. Quickly add the fresh strawberries, heat all through and serve at once. Delicious over vanilla ice-cream!
Lemon Balm Jelly
For a children’s party (or a small dinner party), the colours of the following sweet make a gay splash to round off the meal.
1\2 oz. gelatine 1\4 pint hot water 1\2 oz. raw sugar 3\4 pint milk
Small handful chopped lemon balm leaves
Dissolve gelatine in the hot water, add the sugar and lemon balm leaves and stir till sugar is dissolved, then cool slightly and strain. When lukewarm, add the milk, and colour half the mixture pink if desired. Allow to set in shallow trays. Cut into cubes when set, and mix with cubes of mint jelly or green jelly.
*45\181\8*
