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Klosterfrau Melissengeist
How does herbs become a world famous remedy? bella editor Peter Karstens was allowed to participate in the secret production.
Researchers are enthusiastic about the healing power of melissa . Studies certify especially the "Melissengeist" a strengthening, even life-prolonging effect. But the medicinal herb is sensitive. How do you bring the fleeting "mind" concentrated and undamaged into the bottle? I want to know.
In Berlin-Marienfelde, a good distance south of the center of our capital, the " Klosterfrau Melissengeist " is created . The recipe keeps the company secret. And for security reasons, strangers are not allowed to enter the central area, the distillation hall. But the management in Cologne has made an exception for bella.
Before I can visit the production in the Berlin plant with its 100 employees, I get an introduction. Because: " Safety and purity are our top priority, " says industrial master Björn Salbach. "No germs can get into production, and anything electric, like cell phones or batteries, is forbidden, and the distillation is alcoholic, so there should be no sparks."
The first way leads to the drug depot. There is no drug there, "drugs" pharmacists call dried medicinal plants. Melissa and twelve other drugs, such as angelica root and ginger root, are stored in plastic bags controlled by German contract farmers. Lemon fragrance impregnates the air. Very pleasant.
In the next hall employees in white protective clothing weigh the drugs in the correct ratio. Two machines crush the herbs. "So that we can distill them optimally", Salbach calls to me over the rumbling of the mills to: " 500 to 700 kilos per day! "
The distillation is in another building. I look up at the two "bubbles" for the melissa spirit . Stainless steel glossy, these kettles reach almost to the hall ceiling. They each hold 20, 000 liters. "We only ever fill it halfway, " says Salbach, explaining to me what's happening inside her. The ground drugs come on a sieve. Under it, purified water and medical alcohol are heated to 100 degrees. The vapor dissolves the healing substances, the "spirit", from the drugs. It then flows through a pipe system and cools down - the "spirit" liquefies. The result is a highly concentrated ethereal oil distillate, amber-colored, fragrant - up to 900 liters per hour. This essence is then diluted with medicinal alcohol. And then the solution stored for eight to ten weeks in steel tanks: "So sulfuric substances can sit, which could affect the taste, " says Master Salbach. Then there are only the quality tests, and the melissa spirit is ready for bottling and shipping.
A factory tour under full protective clothing - I'm warm, but easy in mind. The scent of lemon balm - it calms down . Now I also understand why the work atmosphere in the work is so solved.
Melissa helps against stress
Melissengeist is a panacea that helps with cold as well as with gastrointestinal complaints, sleep disorders and headaches. Because many of these symptoms can be triggered by too much stress, the monastery medicine has long been considered a proven remedy for permanent pressure. Scientific studies prove that melissa spirit strengthens the nerves. Heidelberg researchers found in a more than 30-year study: Participants who took the natural medicine regularly lived on average seven years longer . Another study shows that the effects of melissa are not long in coming: After four weeks, over two-thirds of the stress symptoms were already significantly milder.
