backwoods menu/Wild tea.

[crimescene450]

I just made some....

and lets just say it aint my cup of tea.... Anyone had it before?

And on a related note, Does any one ever make any wild teas? Whats your favorite?

[justin_baker]

When you come back to CA, try out bay leaf tea. I like it a lot better than say, fir needle tea. I mix it with crushed manzanita berries and it gives a nice refreshing kick.

[crimescene450]

When you come back to CA, try out bay leaf tea. I like it a lot better than say, fir needle tea. I mix it with crushed manzanita berries and it gives a nice refreshing kick.

yeah definately
i still havent found manzanita though

i need to get out of my little 300 acre forest.
haha

do you drink it hot or cold?

and also,
do all the oaks and bay leaf's in andele (or however is was spelled) have oak death? cuz all the bay leaf trees around my place have sudden oak death

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[crashdive123]

CS - rather than delete your thread as you asked, I've merged it with this thread.

[Scaru]

wineberries are delicicous

[Rick]

Bergamot (Bee Balm) leaf is a good tea. Echinacea or Coneflower leaf is okay as well. My favorite is pine needle.

[RangerXanatos]

So far, the only one I've tried and really liked is blackberry tea.

I make it in 2L bottles and since I'm in the south, it's sweet blackberry tea.

Fist full of blackberry leaves*
Boil on the stove for ~15 minutes
Steep on the stove for ~15
Pour one cup of sugar in the 2L bottle
Add the steeping tea, be sure to remove the leaves first.
Fill to the top of the bottle with cold water
Mix and enjoy!!

*I don't even dry the leaves in the sun, I just pick and start fixing my tea. I have also put in about 4-5 blackberries in while the tea is boiling. This might give it a very light pinkish color.

[randyt]

made some labador tea over the weekend. I was goofing off in a swamp and came across a patch and brought a handful home and brewed. it was the low bush variety.

[Rick]

Does blackberry tea taste anything like blackberries? I have to try this tomorrow. I have never had blackberry tea. My blackberries are done for the summer but if I can still make tea....woohoo!!!!!

[NCO]

When the upcoming winter is over and the spring comes I will make some birch leaf tea.. It's pretty good, but you need to use young birch leafs.

[RangerXanatos]

Does blackberry tea taste anything like blackberries? I have to try this tomorrow. I have never had blackberry tea. My blackberries are done for the summer but if I can still make tea....woohoo!!!!!

Try it for yourself and find out. But if you aren't used to sweet tea, then skip out on the sugar!

[Rick]

I was just wondering what kind of flavor it had. I am going to try this tomorrow. I like sweetened tea and the berries this year were sweet but they weren't all that sweet. So I'll add some sugar to it.

[crimescene450]

So far, the only one I've tried and really liked is blackberry tea.

I make it in 2L bottles and since I'm in the south, it's sweet blackberry tea.

Fist full of blackberry leaves*
Boil on the stove for ~15 minutes
Steep on the stove for ~15
Pour one cup of sugar in the 2L bottle
Add the steeping tea, be sure to remove the leaves first.
Fill to the top of the bottle with cold water
Mix and enjoy!!

*I don't even dry the leaves in the sun, I just pick and start fixing my tea. I have also put in about 4-5 blackberries in while the tea is boiling. This might give it a very light pinkish color.

do you drink it hot or cold?
im gonna try this with himalyian blackberry this winter
and the native CA blackberry to see if there any difference in taste

[Otzi]

black rasberries... lemon balm... garlic mustard

I am a fan of Wintergreen berries. They stay on the plant even under the snow and really freshen your breath. I like sassafrass tea and boiled nettles too.

[Alaska Grandma]

No wild blackberries this far north, close to the Arctic Circle, but we do have a lot of wild raspberries. The leaves make a great addition to tea. I like raspberry leaves and wild rose petals the best, later in fall I add rosehips either fresh picked or dried.

Labrador tea is good, but don't want to drink too much of it.

This time of year in spring, Spruce-needle tip tea is delicious and very nutritious too.

Grandma lori

[grrlscout]

I don't remember if I replied to this already or not, and I'm too lazy to go through 20 pages to check. So please forgive me if this is a duplication.

The only wild teas I have tried so far and Mormon tea and cenizo tea.

Mormon tea (Ephedra trifurca) tastes a little astringent, but not too bad. It did have a very slight 'pep' to it.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens, purple sage, Texas ranger, Texas barometer bush, Texas silverleaf, Texas sage) tea has a slightly earthy, sagey flavor to it. It is supposed to be good for a cold, as it breaks your fever, and makes you a little sleepy.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

I like it mixed with mint and honey.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Depending on where I am, I sometimes find wild mint growing too.

[Coastlander]

I am pretty new to wild edibles (about 2 years now) and a majority of what I've tried have been mushrooms but I think I already have a couple favorites.
I tasted Morels for the first time last season, but I think Black Trumpet mushrooms are my favorite. And I'll never buy blueberries from the grocery store again; wild blueberries are great!

[RangerXanatos]

do you drink it hot or cold?
im gonna try this with himalyian blackberry this winter
and the native CA blackberry to see if there any difference in taste

Sorry, I'm just now seeing this. I like to drink mine cold or whenever I've finished it. You can see that I finish the tea by filling the bottle with cold water. That's just to make it cool faster.

[grrlscout]

The cacti are budding and/or in bloom right now. So I made some ocotillo blossom sun tea.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

It had a very subtle, slightly sweet flavor; kinda like cucumber water.

Of course, I couldn't leave it alone. I wanted a more intense flavor. So I reduced it by half, on the stove.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Sadly, that turned the flavor harsh.

But it's nothing a little pomegranate syrup and gin couldn't fix.

[WolfVanZandt]

My favorite food plant is redbud. The flowers are great raw or fried in butter. Wood sorrel goes great in salads as does the tender ends of greenbrier. There are all kinds of fruit down here - blackberries, blueberries, haws, wild plums (not nearly as many as I remember when I was a kid), quinces, and maypops. Then, the pecans might not be wild, but they've taken on so well, they might as well be, and there's other nuts I like such as the hickory nuts. I wouldn't call the pot greens favorite except the wild mustard is really good if cooked right. I'll eat the salad and pot greens, though.

Wild teas? Why, of course, sassafras. I was also introduced to poplar once and it wasn't bad. Rose hips make a nice tea as does staghorn sumac. All those fruits up there can be used to make compotes; those are very good. I've also run into mint and horehound down here and, oh yeah! windergreen is all over the place.

By the way, sassafras root (you should use the root because the leaves and stems make a scummy tea - people in Louisiana use dried sassafras leaves as a thickener for gumbo) is just about the hardest wood I ever tries to shave so I bought a pencil sharpener for my kitchen just for sassafras tea.