Homegrown Herbal Tea

[digitS']

Enough for 1 cup, that was all of the anise hyssop that I dared harvest for a cup of herbal tea with the addition of lemon verbena from the greenhouse.

The plant was the most vigorous of 2024 and is being joined by others in a return for this season. Additionally, I recovered some volunteers from self-seeding and have them in small pots on the greenhouse bench.

Protected growing for the subtropical lemon verbena has meant that several sandwich bags have already been harvested and are in the freezer. Those two plants in their big pots were moved to a shady area of the garden, yesterday.

The temperate anise hyssop outdoors has to play catch-up with the verbena . Soon, I will be able to enjoy both together from the kettle and not just 1 cup a week.

Steve

 

[digitS']

This morning my experiment with herbal tea involves making use of several mints that have been growing in the yard for years. Usually, I pay little attention to them but vegetable garden expansion is now threatening their locations. Importantly, I have found a use for the spearmint, enjoying it in the licorice root, orange zest & stevia blend. Homegrown is considerably better than store-bought and there's plenty dried and bagged on a kitchen shelf .

This morning, I am trying *apple mint* as a substitute for the spearmint. I already have something of a love/hate relationship with apple mint. The fragrance of the fresh is absolutely delightful . The invasiveness of the plant seriously tests my tolerance for it!

I have tried it dried as a tea and was disappointed by its loss of flavor. Perhaps, just doubling the amount used would prove worthwhile. This morning, the apple mint flavor will have the licorice, orange and the stevia to compete with/compliment it. Let's try ... the contents of the cup has cooled enough ...

Hey, tasty stuff! From the moment I put my nose over the steaming cup, I easily detect a difference from the spearmint. Fruity, yes but in the mouth it is almost candy-like . Hmm, I wonder if this might serve as a preferred blend? Best not be hasty, Steve — you don't want to expand the apple mint's domain and then regret it! There's a kettle full and a zip-lock bag of the blend to try before decisions might be made.

Well, tomorrow — Mojito mint!

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

I remember an Illini FS that used to sell plants in a garden center each spring. I Swear they carried about 9 kinds of mint. Can't find even the chocolate mint that I have growing everywhere in my yard, to purchase.
I did see Apple Mint and Pineapple Mint for sale at that now defunct store--they only carry equipment for farmers, now--wish I had picked up the Apple Mint.
Pretty pricey, now, $6-$10/plant:

Apple Mint

Apple mint is an attractive herb used for culinary, ornamental and medicinal purposes. Apple Mint can grow up to 3 feet.

maplesnmore.com

 

[digitS']

All of our exotic mints may have come from Richter's, in eastern Canada. We don't have many exotics but Richter's sells 20 types of mints altho several are variations of Spearmint.

They are all about $7US/each. Shipping is expensive but if'n you are buying several things, it ain't too bad. We would often buy a flat of this or that and 1 or 2 more plants didn't make much difference in totals.

"Banana mint?!" Whoa ... I'm not sure about that one .

 

[digitS']

The Mojito Mint this morning.

My first impression was, "this is odd."

Reading a little about the mint, others consider it as a somewhat mild spearmint with some citrus flavor ... Okay, that would mean the orange zest is being somewhat reinforced. I'm noticing limited mint flavor and that is about all I can say. I will finish the kettle through the morning.

? Steve

 

[Phaedra]

Harvested some chamomile and let dry in the greenhouse

Roses, too

Ugh, stall bread too --> later they will become bread crumbs, no waste~

 

[Phaedra]

I love my chamomiles - self-seeded, hand-picked, greenhouse-dried.

So fragrant~

 

[digitS']

Morning herbal tea this week will be made using the apple mint with the licorice root, orange zest and purchased stevia herb. I am slightly disappointed with the loss of fragrance with the apple. At the same time, my addition of spearmint was to liven up what was in my cup. Homegrown spearmint is especially a success. Apple mint as a substitute doesn't really do it ... it's good! But, it falls a little short.

I have had my first sprigs of the purchased Stevia plants ...

The 2 plants in the greenhouse are growing and I have pinched several sprigs off of them over several days. It's time to leave them alone for awhile and allow them to grow.

I am so impressed with the sweetness . Combined with sprigs of anise hyssop andlemonverbena, the fresh stevia is everything I could hope for – far from that artificial flavor of the commercial extract. Not surprisingly, it doesn't have the dry hay flavor of the dried. Honestly, I had wondered if the commercial dried stevia that I bought had sugar added. Nope, I don't have that nagging suspicion now that I know where that sweetness comes from .

It remains to be seen if I can keep the plants alive during the Winter months. I can try and they are supposed to be tender perennials. I may also try to propagate from cuttings.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' can you figure out what that scent is that you're enjoying so much and perhaps do an extraction at that stage to capture it?

 

[digitS']

what that scent is that you're enjoying so much

With the apple mint? Well, it does smell like apples, quite strongly and with some sort of mint addition. It was the apples in Mom's apple pie that appealed to me, not the cinnamon. (I do appreciate cinnamon and enjoyed Red Hots as a kid .)

I don't know what you mean by "extraction." Where we had the idea of freezing some herbs probably just came from freezing veggies. It may be that freezing the mints rather than hanging and drying would be a better idea altho spearmint has plenty of flavor dried.

Spearmint ... okay, I like some mint candy ... but I really had no idea that I would like it with the citrus and licorice flavors that I realized long ago that I enjoy. The fresh lemon verbena and anise hyssop are just a match with the dried orange zest and licorice root. Stevia is not a flavor that appeals to me and, I suppose, could be replaced with some sugar .

No doubt, there may be several flavors more that I would enjoy. I started with an appreciation of root beer and licorice candies. That attracted me to Stash Licorice Spice at the soopermarket. The listed ingredients are "licorice root, ... spices. Cinnamon, orange peel, star anise, and sarsaparilla." I wondered what herbs that I could grow that would match those, at least, somewhat. For my tastes and after several years experimenting, I did better than Stash . That might have been accidental. I would encourage all gardeners to give those flavors that they enjoy some thought and explore what they might grow.

Steve, onward –– to pinch a little lemon verbena and anise hyssop for my afternoon cup of tea (i'll have it with dinner, tonight )