Lemon Verbena, Aloysia citriodora
Lemon Verbena ~ Aloysia citriodora
$8 per plant in 14cm pot (dormant at the moment)
Lemon verbena in my opinion is the most lemony of lemoness that you can get in the herb world that isn’t a lemon. And what is wonderful about that lemony goodness is that when dried, it’s still lemony!
If you’re looking for a lemony tea this is the herb you’re after.
Actually it makes an absolutely divine cordial too – my son made this during summer and it almost made me not want to sell any lemon verbena plants so I could strip them all merrily for Jakob to make the cordial all summer long!
Luckily lemon verbena grows quite big (up to 5m), can get straggly though so prune (and use those leaves) to keep a neat-ish form. Lemon verbena loses it’s leaves sometimes in autumn, sometimes not til late winter, it’s a bit random, and then it’s leaves grow back more in summer rather than in spring like all the others, you could say it drums to it’s own beat!
Lemon Verbena Cordial
3 cups water, 3 cups sugar, 1 cup white vinegar, juice and zest of 2 lemons, 2 large sprigs lemon verbena, 1 sprig mint.
Bring sugar and water to the boil, stirring unti sugar dissolves. Add vinegar, lemon juice and zest and boil for 5 minutes. Add lemon verbena leaves and mint. Boil for 1 minute, strain and bottle.
This is a concentrate! So mix with water/soda water/gin&tonic
(If you don’t have the room for a lemon verbena plant you can buy the dried leaves here.)