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10:15 pm
Supreme Being
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Tue 22-Sep-09
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50g of fresh lemon balm leaves, chopped to within an inch of their lives
3 tbsp wheatgerm oil
115ml olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp beeswax
5 drops tea tree oil
put chopped leaves in pan with both oils and heat slowly for about 10 mins, or until it starts to bubble. strain through a muslin lined sieve, squeezing to get every last drop of oil and juice out of the leaves.
put back into cleaned pan and add honey & beeswax and warm, stirring until melted and fully combined. take off the heat and stir in the tea tree oil, pour into sterilised jars where it will set solid in around 10 mins.
5:02 am
Supreme Being
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Mon 7-Jun-10
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Thanks for that.....I am now looking up the Bulgarian for wheatgerm and tea tree oil...and then I'll head for the apothocary..
..so that's my challenge for today...the lemon balm I have in the garden and the remainder in the kitchen.....shimple
Who lives long sees much : The diary of my life in Bulgaria
12:43 pm
Knowledegable
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Mon 21-Mar-11
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Thanks for that. I'm always on the lookout for recipes that will use up some of the honey and wax from the hives.
Just made a lavender and basil soap that looks ok but won't know for sure until it's cured, another 3 weeks
Failing is not a fault, refusing to try is
9:40 pm
Councillor
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Thats quite spooky but the other day I was looking up this recipe from the Grow Your Own Drugs programme. I realised that my lemon balm hasn't grown big enough yet - it isn't even big enough to make a cup of tea, which one recipe claimed required 'a large bunch' 
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11:26 pm
Supreme Being
New members
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Mike. It is a James Wong recipe, but with a bit of manipulation, he says to heat the lemon balm in three batches, which I did the first time, can't see it made a lot of difference and it was a real faff and you lost most of the oils from the bit's you couldn't quite wring out of the leaves. If you want some lemon balm, let me know I have a massive clump of it, and just got some variagated stuff that I've rooted from a cutting.
Elsa, You could just use something like almond oil, or even all olive oil, it would still work, the wheatgerm oil is supposed to have special properties but it is expensive and many recipes agree you can substitute other oils for it with little difference.
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