tea herbs

[rainbowgardener]

CLG - you asked about jelly/ jam recipes. In this thread:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 45&t=57694

I posted a recipe for redbud flower jelly (which could be adapted for other flowers and herbs) and for the anise hyssop/strawberry jam.

[Lab_Man]

I'm glad that I found this thread. I will go out to the herb garden and try some.

Thanks

[digitS']

Altho' I like mint, I never find very much use for it. A fresh sprig for a change of flavor in a bowl of noodles. DW makes sachets for the clothes drawers.

For herb tea, the exception to my lack of interest is spearmint in combination with chamomile. Perfect.

Spearmint is easy. Picking the tiny chamomile flowers was a little tedious but the plants were also tiny, and unproductive. I think I should try again. It may have been too shady a location.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, they like sun. My chamomile in one of my best sunny spots is going great guns. I have picked hundreds of little flowers off of three plants twice now and in a few more days I will do it again. But, yes, it is tedious. I have wondered about that. With the amount of chamomile tea being sold, there must be a machine to do it. But the chamomile flowers in commercial tea never have any little stem bits attached, so I don't know how they do that.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm now working on the fourth cutting of chamomile flowers and they are just going crazy. Clipping them results in more branching, so they just keep getting more and more floriferous.

I was wondering if anyone knows how long they are likely to keep going? I want to quit cutting them in time to let some go to seed, to see if they will reseed themselves.

[heidihouse]

Rose hips are good too.

[Joyfirst]

This year I started raising Globe Amaranth (gomphrena globosa) for the tea and crafts. Tea smells like red beets and has same coloring, but it doesn't taste like beets, taste is very mild.

[Joyfirst]

Here how it looks:

[digitS']

Never.even.thought.of.that!

I have grown gomphrena often. DW uses it in dry arrangements and I could snap a picture of it hanging in the garage this morning! Never thought of using it as a tea.

We have celosia, another amaranth. I've wondered if there are edible varieties ... I enjoy a serving of redroot pigweed in the springtime (just wish it had a more appealing name.)

Globe amaranth tea, hmmm? Ours is Strawberry Fields. Wonder how it would be dried ...

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

red-root pigweed, amaranthus retroflexus, is common amaranth, if you like that name better.

[Flowers]

Wow I'm so glad I stumbled across this! Do you guys think that rose petals would be any good in tea? (As medicinal or for taste) I remember I used to eat rose petals when I was a kid and they were bitter but I was convinced they had some kind of healing properties or something like that. Am I just crazy, or does anyone else think this might be worth trying out in an herbal tea blend?

[rainbowgardener]

I use rose hips more than petals in tea, but you can make a nice rose petal tea with lots of medicinal qualities.

Clip and discard bitter white bases from the rose petals; rinse petals thoroughly and pat dry.

Bring the water to just short of boiling, when the bubbles start rising to the surface. Remove from stove and pour the water over the rose petals. Let them steep for five minutes or so.

Strain the hot rose petal liquid into teacups. Add honey or sugar to taste (or agave syrup, which I have been enjoying lately).

But note that one of the medicinal properties of rose petals is as a laxative. Don't make this tea too strong or consume too much of it!

[Flowers]

Good to know! Thank you for the advice Another question I had was whether mint is stronger fresh or dried? I read that herbs have a stronger flavor dried out, but I feel like mint would be an exception to this.

[Flowers]

Gosh this got me so excited about herbs, I went and chopped off a few branches from my mint plant and strung them up in my shower. I'm hoping the steam will release a lovely mint smell throughout the bathroom every morning, and this might even have a medicinal benefit with some herbs. I bet lavendar would be nice. Just thought I'd share my idea, in case any of you guys want to try it too

[rainbowgardener]

mint is just different fresh or dried. Dried is more concentrated, meaning you will use more leaves if you use fresh, but the fresh is just fresher, tastes different. I like the fresh mint really well, but use dried in the off season.

[Flowers]

I just made a deliciously simple tea I thought I'd share with all of you. For two cups I just boiled 3 tsp of lemon thyme and 3 tsp of mint ("mojito mint" from sprouts, not sure what that means) for about 20 minutes. Then I sweetened it with honey. I thought you all deserved to know this delicious combo!

[rainbowgardener]

Lemon thyme and mint sounds like a nice combination. But I don't know why you would boil it for 20 min. Usually you wouldn't boil the herbs at all, just pour boiling water over them and let them steep, usually for about 5-10 min, with the cup covered so the steam doesn't escape. If you want the tea stronger, use more leaves not longer steeping time. Boiling would tend to break down whatever medicinal qualities the herbs have and make the tea more bitter. I can't imagine how strong your tea was after 20 min of boiling, though that does depend on how much water was with it.

I think you will have a fresher tasting, sweeter, healthier tea if you just steep the leaves.

[Flowers]

Thank you for the advice. I'll do that next time. I was trying for more flavor but after so long I realized it wasn't working and gave up.

[WinglessAngel]

Having gone back to my roots (and through my old list of threads on the forum here lol) I've discovered Korean Anise Hyssop. While it was labeled simply as Korean Hyssop, which I had intended on using for tea, it ended up being Korean Anise Hyssop, anise being a flavor I am not fond of in the least. Though for those that favor that type of flavor KAH is a great herb for making tea with. Grows just like mint, hard to get going from seed but once it does, it's there for the duration and readily self seeds. But like mint, be sure to keep it contained. If you really like anise/licorice flavors the leaves are also edible fresh as are the flowers, again like mint, and can be used in salads and such to give a little more spark of flavor, even in fruit salads. I personally will stick to my mint for fresh made tea or iced tea when in season. I don't lack it for the way it grows on our property. We regularly end up tractor mowing over the runners that escape out into the field from the fenced in area lol. Makes for some nice smelling tractor mowing though! My previous bunny boy also loved mint as a treat too, leaves or flowers.

Oh and the flowers are an amazing bee and butterfly attractant, I also had a few hummingbirds find their way to them also

[Countryladiesgardens]

I have some Chamomile and Anise Hyssop seeds for those of you interested in swapping..

[applestar]

Coffee leaf and Tea blossom with Jasmine and lavender

The tea blossom:

[digitS']

Oooh!

Nice, very nice, AppleStar!

I lift my mug of steaming Fujian Oolong to you.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

beautiful!

[HoneyBerry]

All these tea ideas sound so good.

My favorite tea is fresh ginger tea. Ginger tea may not be considered herbal tea.

Fresh ginger in any recipe any way is fine for me.

Fresh ginger tea with candied ginger cubes on the side. Mmmmm.

[applestar]

Sipping my latest night time herbal blend -- holy basil, catnip, lemon verbena, lavender, and stevia.

[rainbowgardener]

Love the tea suggestion AND the graphic!

[Mr green]

One I wish I could grow over here is the Hibiscus commonly known as Jaimaica, no brewing is needed either, just take a 1-2l container throw a handfull of flower petals in it put it in the refridgerator for about atleast 6h, over night is perfect. It will come out really nice dark purple. Some sweeten it, but I really like it with nothing else added!

Typically I'm more into using teas as remedy / nature medecine of different kinds, and for this I use traditional Ayurvedic blends mostly. Many herbs can have a similar effect and when brought toghether they get an increased synergic effect.

There aint many I grow myself because most I can find so cheap and organic that it aint really worth the effort, I will try Liqorice root tho for tea blends. As its supposed to do well here.

[PinkPetalPolygon]

I got mint in the last few months (spearmint & chocolate mint in containers) & have been making mint tea here & there, but today was the first time I made a [what I considered to be] a real tea blend. I wanted to try out my new lemon thyme which oozes the essence of citrus in the best way!

so I made a surprisingly perfect tea blend with the most of lemon thyme (a few sprigs), equal parts spearmint & greek oregano & chocolate mint (a little top leaf segment of each) & 2 little clusters of english thyme flowers

(my oldest thyme plant (3 years old) is in full bloom and the flowers taste like magic, way different than it ever tasted before, like the essence of perfectly pink petaled spring, hah)

I was vaguely concerned that the greek oregano and thyme might make it taste like spaghetti/Italian sauce water but the lemonness of the lemon thyme, the mints and the zing-factor* of the greek oregano definitely took it to tea-status imo!

* if you like mintiness / the spicy tingle of mint then you might love greek oregano as much as I do. I am always surprised at just *how* "zingy" it is.

I took a picture of my big o' cup o' tea... uhh, some people might strain it out but I just leave the stuff at the bottom and eat the leaves/herbs when I run out of water.

oooh next time I will stir it up before I take the picture, it looks really pretty swirling around.

[Mr green]

Interesting I have a lemon thyme and it grows really well, but I never seem to like them in anyway. In a tea I havnt tried it tho.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm really glad this thread got brought forward again. I read back through some of it and found my link to the redbud flower jelly recipe and went redbud flower jelly! I had sort of forgotten about it. So I went out and collected a bunch of flowers. The redbud flowers here are past peak already and the trees are leafing out. If I hadn't done this in the next day or two, it would have been too late for this year.

While I was at it, I collected a bunch of wisteria blossoms as well -- wisteria is at its peak now and growing by roadsides all over the place.

So here they are infusing:

It was interesting. The wisteria blossoms are that really pretty blue-purple. As soon as I poured the boiling water over them, the water started turning green. Now several hours later it is very deep green. The redbud flowers just look faded, but the infusion and the jelly come out a very nice pink.

They have to infuse for 24 hrs. Tomorrow the infusions will be strained and made into jellies.

[applestar]

Have you done the wisteria blossom jelly before? I was recently asked by someone who keeps horses if wisteria is as "very toxic" to horses as she had heard. I looked around and found vague mentions (this is what I wrote to her) :

I didn't know that, so I looked it up -- in many articles, it's not listed among the most poisonous to horses but is mentioned in passing. ASPCA lists it as toxic to cats, dogs, and horses without much detail except diarrhea, vomiting and depression as symptoms.

This one was most informative about other plants, but only mentions wisteria seeds and pods as harmful to horses. I can't tell if this "ornamentals" page at the end of the article where wisteria is mentioned is part of the "Mechanical Injury" subsection.
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/default ... 204-14.pdf

...It was annoying not to be able to tell if the "mechanical injury" from the seeds and pods could be the cause for the "depression" mentioned in the ASPCA article -- in other words, listless.

I still don't know if there are actual, toxic compounds in wisteria, but I thought I would mention it just in case?


My redbud flower buds are is just starting to swell. Thanks for the reminder.

[rainbowgardener]

No, haven't done the wisteria blossoms before. But I did check before I started. Wisteria blossoms are listed as edible. The seeds and pods when they form can be toxic.

Looking around, I found this lovely recipe for wisteria and redbud spring rolls, that I will have to try to remember for next year:

https://www.wildedible.com/blog/wildflower-spring-rolls

It not only has the recipe with a nice picture, it discusses the toxicity issue.

Wow, our season really is ahead of yours -- redbud flowers are just about done here.

[applestar]

Lemon leaf as tea flavor herb —

I admit it — I’m a bit of a tea snob. I like having a selection of teas to choose from depending on my mood or what I‘m eating for a meal. Let’s see, I currently have Irish breakfast, organic Darjeeling, and an organic black tea blend as well as organic oolong... and for green tea, I have organic jasmine green, roasted green (houjicha), sencha, bancha, and genmaicha, as well as a genmaicha-matcha blend.

One black tea I haven’t bought in some time is earl grey, which used to be one of my favorites. But now, I use a freshly plucked lemon leaf, rolled and bruised and steeped with a black tea blend

I’m drinking some now plucked from this rather struggling specimen. It needs to be uppotted since there are three seedlings grown from “Trader Joe’s Lemon from Mexico” — I think it was a Eureka variety. I don’t know if they will ever bloom and fruit, but in the mean time, the lemony fragrant leaves provide another use.

[rainbowgardener]

very nice! and thanks for bringing this thread forward again. I enjoyed reading back through it.

[digitS']

The Original Post mentioned a liking for tea that is "full of flavor and not water ..." That's me, a glass of water will go ignored just by accident. On the other hand, I treat myself with tea, herbal teas and coffee. The neighbors have probably come to ignore my activities outdoors, "oh, there goes a cup ... with Steve carrying it somewhere."

An early-to-bed early-riser, it's 3am and I have been up for 2 hours. Maybe caffeine encouraged me to wake up that early after showering and being in bed by 9pm. I doubt if it's caffeine altho I drank a good deal of oolong yesterday as I slowly came to realize that I have come down with a cold.

DS was here for several days and just left Sunday. He was losing his voice by the weekend and I think that he returned to work with a cold yesterday after leaving some pathogens here at his dad's house . .! I haven't had a respiratory infection for several years but the dry summer months and smoke from wildfires must have really set me up for this.

I'm not looking for an herbal cure but having a cup of licorice tea with some Tylenol right now. Congestion over the few hours that I was asleep, a likely touch of fever, and dehydration means that I had better be drinking a good deal today. It can't be licorice altho I love it ... already feel the soothing effect.

Ginger will play a role and I'll have the cup of spearmint/chamomile at hand almost continuously, today.

I know that inactivity is a real enemy for this olde, retired guy. I've been out regularly for walks. It's mostly a comfort for my legs but, of course, the cardiovascular system is a primary concern. I have gardening through the summer and winter has to find me either tramping along or I'd better have the excuse and a snow shovel in my hands, at least part of the day. The weather is turning even drier and colder right now. I'd best be peering out thru sunglasses over a wool scarf when I'm outdoors, today. Yeah ... steaming cups of something to drink and moderate exercise seems best.

Steve
oh, and plenty of veggies and fruit, too!

[rainbowgardener]

One AM isn't early rising, it's the middle of the night. And 9PM to 1AM is only 4 hours sleep. Hopefully that's because you weren't feeling good, not a regular thing. I don't need as much sleep as many people, but I don't feel as good if I get less than six hours and definitely not if I get less than five. I keep reading more about the importance of sleep for health.

One AM is when I am usually going to be or thinking about going to bed.

Ginger and peppermint are good in herbal tea blends for colds and congestion. This is a nice article about herbal teas for colds and flu (if you are really sick, go to the doctor, these aren't meant to be instead of the doctor only along with!)

https://theherbalacademy.com/ten-homema ... lu-season/

Hope you feel better!

[Gary350]

I am not good at making tea from things I grow. My mint comes back every year but I can not make good tea with it. I grew hyssop several times it never made good tea either. I don't like green tea from the grocery store. I like Lipton ice tea if it is made right. When I lived up north I would never drink Lipton Ice tea northerners do not know how to make good tea they boil the tea that brings out the bitter tannin flavor. When I moved to TN I learned how to make good ice tea, put a tea bag in 150 degree water wait 10 minutes it is ready to drink, add sugar to suit your taste. Bitter flavor tannin comes out of all plants at about 180 degree so never boil your tea. I actually learned about tannin making wine 50 years ago but never learned about tannin in other plants until years later. If you would like to make better tasting coffee use 150 degree water, tannin tends to hide the good coffee flavor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannin

[applestar]

You sound like my daughter. She says green tea and herbal teas all taste like grass. LOL

— mint ... different varieties have different flavors and aromas. Mint also cross pollinates easily (lots of pollinator activity like bees and wasps) so if you have a stand of mint, you may not have the original flavor you planted. I have peppermint, spearmint, spearmint cross (doesn’t look like spearmint should), and applemint.

- I like peppermint and applemint for hot tea. Good for digestion and to promote appetite.

- peppermint is also the one I use for anesthetic herbal treatments/herbal remedies, skincare products.

- Spearmint taste too much like gum and toothpaste to me when hot. But spearmint is “sweeter” and good for cold/iced tea. I believe mint julep was originally made with spearmint. Spearmint is also good for garnish and mint jelly, type use.

- I’m trying to obtain true mojito mint. I suspect this one will be better in cold drinks, too.

- I’m also trying to decide if I want to get chocolate mint. I can’t find out for certain if they are just a kind of peppermint with brown/purplish stem or some of them actually taste like chocolate. In photo’s the leaves seem more narrow/pointed/veined and shield-shaped like spearmint?

[thanrose]

I've grown chocolate mint before. It did smell a little chocolate-like. The leaves were smaller than spearmint, and some of them had the anthocyanins that made the stems dark rimming the leaves. The mint flavor was still there. My love affair with all things chocolate was already sated with other sources, so chocolate mint was relegated to idle memory.

Herbal teas to me were always "dirty water." I like the sensory complexity of coffee, but not commercial herbal tea in general. Chai is worth making and drinking, but chamomile is just not interesting.

This past year, I reintroduced myself to roselle tea, purported to aid recovery from heat exhaustion. It actually seemed to work better than simply cool water, enough so that I made a pitcher every day in August and September. I did not grow the Hibiscus sabdariffa, aka Florida cranberry or roselle. Also purchased Celestial Seasonings Zinger teas. The red color is from the roselle. Could not find Red Zinger flavor, the original, but was happy enough with a berry Zinger and a lemon Zinger as alternates to my Latin market sourced roselle.

I've used my lemon grass for teas and for cooking many times. Either plain or with green or black tea. Also use homegrown stevia for a sweeter taste.

Rosemary tea was supposed to be good for headaches. Not noticeably effective for me.

Herbs added to black tea or oolong? Yeah.

[rainbowgardener]

chamomile tea by itself does nothing for me. But combine chamomile with lavender and mint! In general I like herbal tea blends, with several different herbs much better than just a mint tea or chamomile or whatever.

I have posted some herbal tea recipes in a couple places around here, including this thread: viewtopic.php?p=128195&highlight=herbal ... pes#128195