Bee balm is an unusually pretty garden flower, attractive to bees and hummingbirds, as well as to gardeners. It has a delightful fragrance reminiscent of oregano and mint. I dry some bee balm every summer to make a fragrant tea to enjoy all winter long. It is not only tasty but is also supposed to be antimicrobial and soothing to the nerves.

Bee balm is also used in cooking. It can be used to flavor meat, tossed into salads, and added to biscuit and muffin recipes. Today I added it to a whole wheat bread recipe. It came out sooooooooo tasty. Here are the ingredients I used.:

• 1  1/2 cups water
• 2 T honey
• 1 cup bee balm petals and leaves
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 cups white bread flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 T butter
• 2 1/2 t yeast

Here are the ingredients in the pan:

I made the bread in my bread machine. You can do the same, following the manufacturer’s instructions for your machine, or you can follow your usual procedure for making bread by hand, or you can just use your favorite whole wheat bread recipe adding 1 cup of bee balm petals and leaves to a two-loaf recipe.  However you make it, it is sure to come out delicious, especially when you eat it fresh out of the oven with butter.