Tuesday eating from your yard tip ~ herb infused water or tisane. Technically, tea is only made from the leaves of Camellia Sinensis and herb infused water is called a tisane. Many though use the term ”tea” more broadly with good reason ~ you think getting people to try an herb is tricky business, label a drink dispenser tulsi tisane at a party and odds are good you will be bringing the full container home.
Teas and other herb infused drinks are kinda my thing. When my grandson was little we went to a restaurant to eat. He ordered ice tea with his meal. When he took a drink he made a face and said mama this doesn’t taste like your ice tea. Just the beginning of his realization that life without herbs is really unpleasant.
I use a modified cold infusion processes to make my tisane. I harvest the herbs ideally mid~morning when their essence is at the peak before the heat of the day depletes us all. Then rinse them and crush the herbs in my fist to release the flavor, then stuff them in a jar. As a general rule fill the jar 1/3 with the herb, but more or less as you are so moved is fine. The next step is to fill the jar with warm water, then let it sit in the refrigerator for a day.
My favorite herbs for tisane are lavender, anise hyssop ~ to help me deal with the heat and lift my mood, mother’s little helper ~ lemon balm and when my joints are particularly bad a combination of nettle and mint. The crowd pleasers are chocolate mint, mountain mint and tulsi/ holy basil. Now this may sound odd, but basil makes a surprisedly lovely cold infusion.
This is my method, but there are many others. Some use boiling water, but I’ve found with some herbs, like basil or lemon balm, this alters the taste in not necessarily a good way. Some folks put the jar of herbs and water out in the sun, but I worry about bacteria forming. Other folks set the herbs in water outside during the full moon for the moon to help extract the essence of the herbs. There is a lot of nighttime activity around my place, so I don’t.
If you don’t have fresh herbs, you can also use tea bags in a jar of water in your refrigerator. Think about the herbs you like to eat and give them a whirl in infused water. If it doesn’t turn out to your liking, then water your plants with it and try another herb. What are your favorite herbal infused waters?
