Is Lemon Balm the Same as Mint? Detailed Guide to Storing Lemon Balm Essential Oil
How should you store lemon balm essential oil so that its quality and effectiveness are preserved? If you keep it in the refrigerator, then the next time you finish using it you will still have to put it back in the refrigerator, but essential oils are best stored in a wooden box (pine is best), as this will keep them for longer. However, essential oils you blend yourself should definitely be used up within 6 months.
How to store lemon balm essential oil:
Use a different dropper when blending different essential oils
Essential oils oxidize easily by nature, which means they cannot be exposed to outside interference. If you want to preserve your essential oils well and have a shelf life of six months, you must not let droppers from other essential oils get mixed in when blending oils, otherwise the life of your essential oil will be shortened to two months. You can buy several extra droppers online to prevent running short when blending oils and using the wrong dropper.
Keep essential oils away from high temperatures
The volatility and easy oxidation of essential oils make them very difficult to preserve. High temperatures are also a taboo for essential oils. Normally, you must never put essential oils in hot places, and keep them away from heat and high temperatures. It is best to place them in a dry, cool place, and they should not be too close to electrical appliances, let alone kept in the kitchen or bathroom, as this will only make your essential oils no longer effective.
Is lemon balm the same as mint? No, so what is the difference?
Differences in flowers
Lemon balm has verticillasters, with bracts that are leaf-like but much smaller than the leaves, a bell-shaped calyx, and a milky white corolla
Mint has axillary verticillasters with a spherical outline, thinner pedicels, a tubular bell-shaped calyx, and a pale purple corolla with fine hairs on the outside.
Differences in leaves
Lemon balm leaves are ovate; those growing on the stem are generally 5 cm long and about 3-4 cm wide, while those on the branches are relatively smaller, 1-3 cm long and about 0.8-2 cm wide, with a blunt or acute tip, a rounded to nearly cordate base, serrated edges, nearly membranous or herbaceous texture, and relatively long fine hairs.
Mint leaves are oblong-lanceolate, elliptical or ovate-lanceolate, rarely oblong, with a sharp tip, a wedge-shaped to nearly rounded base, and coarse tooth-like serrations along the edges; compared with the former, the fine hairs are shorter and less obvious.