Thursday, January 5, 2012

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

Well it was tea time in my house last week. I had a cold all week long. Colds mean I drink a large amount of tea. Some is purchased, but some comes from the garden.

This is my favorite garden combo. Chamomile blossoms and Chocolate Mint. I mix them half and half. I've tried other mints with chamomile, but none are as good as Chocolate Mint.

Does anyone else drink tea from the garden? If so what are your favorites? I love lemon balm tea but lemon balm doesn't dehydrate well. That wonderful lemon scent evaporates. I'd love to find some new teas to grow.

20 comments:

  1. I've heard that you can use Lemon Verbena in this way - though I haven't tried it myself.

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  2. I wish it were hardy in my zone. I may have to break down and grow one in a pot to bring inside in the winter months.

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  3. I'm not much of a tea drinker lately. I do grow both of these....so, maybe I should give some homemade teas a try.

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  4. I am a big tea drinker but am afraid it is only black tea. I do make a lot of chamomile tea however this time of year as I use it to stop dampening off of my seedlings.

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  5. Lemon balm, definitely. I actually actively loathe Chamomile, so although it grows well (like an invasive weed, actually), I try to get it out. Chocolate mint is wonderful, and you just gave me a good idea about how to manage it in my yard.

    My favorite "tea" for sick is what we call Throat Drink -- a lemon or lime squeezed into how water with honey. The kids ask for it when they're feeling unwell.

    My word verification is "beasteas." Someone has a sense of humor!

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  6. Lemon balm is my favorite. But in Mobile, Alabama I can pick it fresh from the garden even now. I have been wanting to try borage. I don't know if it would be a good tea, though.

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  7. I have never thought of making my own tea. Thanks for the great idea!

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  8. I love tea, and do a lot of mint combinations at night. During the day, I am a sucker for green tea, and green tea with puffed brown rice (genmaicha). Just for fun, I started growing a camellia sinensis earlier this year for my own green tea. The plant hasn't grown much, but hopefully when things heat up, I'll have some tea leaves to harvest.

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  9. If I do dry lemon balm, I mix it in equal parts with lemon verbena and lemon grass. They are both tender so you have to dry the leaves or bring the plants inside.Go for a lemon verbena if you can find one. The fresh leaves are great chopped and mixed with plain fruit.The plant is as fragrant in the garden as any flower and sometimes it blooms.

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  10. My favourite is Mint Tea, weak black tea with fresh mint leaves in and in true Morrocan style lots of sugar. Or when I'm feeling more health conscious mint and lemon balm - this time without sugar. We are fortunate to have frsh mint and lemon balm all year.

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  11. I have tried drying lemon balm as well...no luck. Now, I freeze it in small batches...works great. I have not tried your chocolate mint tea combo. Sounds delicious!

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  12. What a great tea combination! I have chocolate mint and I usually drink it solo, but now I think I will have to try it with chamomile... next year. A combination of a large basil above and mint below suffocated my chamomile this past year, so no flowers.

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  13. Home grown tea sounds really good. I have not make my own yet. But it is one of the things I would like to learn.

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  14. that sounds like a good idea!
    In India, we have tulsi(Ocimum tenuiflorum) tea, or ginger tea in winters to bet the chest congestion.

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  15. Peppermint tea will calm a cough. It worked so well with the daughter that I wondered why everyone turned to using cough syrup.

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  16. Daphne, One of my favorite herbs for drying to make hot tea is apple mint. Regular mint makes good hot tea, too. (I'm not as keen on dried lemon balm for hot tea - it loses flavor in the drying, I guess.) Lemon balm shines as a tea brewed from fresh and then chilled in season. I haven't grown chamomile (but I have thought about it). I have chocolate mint growing and have only ever added that with the coffee grounds before brewing. Thanks for the tip about mixing it w/chamomile. I guess I better amend my 2012 seed list! :)

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  17. You remind me that I've been wanting to seed my driveway with chamomile, I love the scent during summer. If you had only one to choose to grow, would it be lemon balm or verbena! Am looking for the most versatile one for culinary purposes...

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  18. I'd love to keep track of my garden "income"this year. Do you happen to have an excel spreadsheet that makes keep track easier? OR do you know of someone willing to share?

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  19. This herbal tea sounds really interesting, another reason to grow chocolate mint!

    Every summer I create two herbal tea mixtures from my fresh harvested herbs:
    FLOWER TEA, with flowers of cinnamon basil, anise basil, clover, hyssop (few), chamomile, orange blossoms (harvested in early spring), rose.

    MINT TEA, with horsemint, apple mint, white mint, lemon balm, catnip, calamint, pennyroyal...

    And I enjoy them during winter!

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  20. Daphne, I know it is late to add this, but I really enjoy drinking jasmine tea in Asian restaurants. I broke down and bought myself a 100 bag container of jasmine tea at a local Asian foods store and have been enjoying it every day. I don't know how you make jasmine tea. I remember some friends growing jasmine up to their deck. Is it the same? That might be a good idea.

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