Melissa Hydrosol - Bulgaria (Melissa Officinalis)

Melissa hydrosol is the aromatic water of a Bulgarian steam distillation of lemon balm leaf, Melissa officinalis, of the mint family, Lamiaceae. A hydrosol is the water fraction that comes off that same distillation, far less concentrated than the essential oil, so this is a soft, ready-to-use water rather than a strong oil. It's true lemon balm and not bee balm, the unrelated Monarda it is sometimes confused with.

The plant carries a long story told in its names. Melissa is the Ancient Greek word for honey bee, for the flowers that draw the bees in, and officinalis is the Latin for of the shop, the tag apothecaries once gave the herbs they kept. It was a favorite of the Tudors, who scattered the leaves across their floors, and from the 18th century the distilled water was taken as a beverage under the names Balm water and Aqua Melissa.

In the bottle the water reads the way the leaf smells when you brush it in the garden, light and fresh, a little fruity, softly lemony and green. True Melissa officinalis essential oil is another matter, one of the lowest-yield oils there is and often co-distilled with lemon or citronella, which is why a genuine bottle of it is rare and costly. This water is the plant's own side from the same still, the affordable way to keep lemon balm close, and it belongs among the hard-to-find connoisseur oils in our range.

We buy from small-batch distillers who work in small runs, and every oil we sell is third-party tested for synthetics, pesticides and adulteration. What ends up in the bottle is the lemon balm leaf turned to a clean, soft water, and nothing else.