Iced Tisane Recipe
Jul. 4th, 2018 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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torrilin replied to your post “Today was even more hectic than usual in the chicken-processing world…”
*sends ice and soothing cold tea and time for a cold shower*
Ha ha, thank you.
I did icepack myself and found that once I wasn’t exerting myself, the heat in my skin mostly went away. I dunno. Maybe I’ll live.
I should take this fleeting five minute break and talk about iced tea recipes!!
I have, at the farm, the incredible luxury of an enormous herb garden intended for 110 CSA family memberships plus the farm staff’s use. So I have basically everything one ever wanted in large quantity, if one ever wanted to make herbal tisanes for any purpose.
So I’ll share my summertime Herbal Iced Tea recipe For Crew Lunches with some notes, because I might as well.
Step 1: Put the kettle on to boil. Fill a half-gallon mason jar or equivalent pitcher about halfway with water and put it into the fridge.
Step 2: Retrieve kitchen shears, flip-flops, and a hat. Go out into the herb garden and contemplate.
Choosing herbs: I like to pair things, or combine them. I have found that basil, as a category, is fantastic in a sweet tea. We have several kinds of basil– lemon basil is the absolute star, thai basil is a little trickier to mix, and red basil works great and also dyes the liquid unpredictable colors that sometimes react with lemon juice to do truly weird stuff. I also enjoy lemon balm. Things like mint are great, peppermints and spearmints; I prefer spearmints but my sister hates the plants and killed mine, so I make do with peppermint. A recent discovery is that mountain mint is a peppermint! but do take care, there’s one variety that’s toxic, so make sure you know what’s in your garden.
(PAUSE FOR A PSA: HERBS ARE CHEMICALS. PLEASE TAKE CARE. Some herbs have medicinal uses, which means they can heal you, but just like any medicine, they can hurt you too. Please at least do a quick Google of anything you want to consume, and find out if it’s contraindicated for something you’ve got. ESPECIALLY pregnancy oh my GOD. It’s astonishing how many abortifacients we blithely grow in our gardens.)
Anyhow– lavender is great but like mint, sometimes tastes like soap. Combine judiciously.
My favorite combos: Mint and Sage, Lemon basil and lemon balm, basil and strawberries (!!!), etc.
Step 3: Put the herbs and a big schmooey of honey (like half a cup, really) in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the bowl. You want to wind up with like, a quart of liquid, so the bowl can be a bit bigger than that to allow for the herbs.
Step 4: let that steep for 5-10 minutes, stirring well to make sure the honey dissolves.
Step 5: If you left the herbs in big pieces, fish them out with whatever you were stirring with. if not, find a strainer. Retrieve your container of water from the fridge, and pour your herbal tisane/syrup into the container of water. Stir well, and let chill an hour or so, or enjoy over ice.
Lasts like a week in the fridge. Optional: Add lemon or lime juice for flavor, or if you want to make a switchel, you can add a whole bunch of apple cider vinegar and maybe a pinch of salt– those are fantastic for really hot days. (I use like, ½-¾ cup of vinegar, and I increase the amount of honey too, switchels ought to be intense but then dilute over ice, that’s how I like them anyway.)
Tip: Anything you put in boiling water is going to wind up discolored and wilted and gross. Strain that out before you let the tea sit. But for looks, you can totally save out a pretty sprig or two of your chosen herb, and put that into the pitcher to kind of “label” it in the fridge, or save some for garnish. This goes quadruple for strawberries, or any kind of berry you’re lucky enough to have for this use. Save some out to put in after it’s cold. Berries will only stay nice a few hours in the liquid so add them a little while before you intend to consume the beverage.
(Your picture was not posted)
torrilin replied to your post “Today was even more hectic than usual in the chicken-processing world…”
*sends ice and soothing cold tea and time for a cold shower*
Ha ha, thank you.
I did icepack myself and found that once I wasn’t exerting myself, the heat in my skin mostly went away. I dunno. Maybe I’ll live.
I should take this fleeting five minute break and talk about iced tea recipes!!
I have, at the farm, the incredible luxury of an enormous herb garden intended for 110 CSA family memberships plus the farm staff’s use. So I have basically everything one ever wanted in large quantity, if one ever wanted to make herbal tisanes for any purpose.
So I’ll share my summertime Herbal Iced Tea recipe For Crew Lunches with some notes, because I might as well.
Step 1: Put the kettle on to boil. Fill a half-gallon mason jar or equivalent pitcher about halfway with water and put it into the fridge.
Step 2: Retrieve kitchen shears, flip-flops, and a hat. Go out into the herb garden and contemplate.
Choosing herbs: I like to pair things, or combine them. I have found that basil, as a category, is fantastic in a sweet tea. We have several kinds of basil– lemon basil is the absolute star, thai basil is a little trickier to mix, and red basil works great and also dyes the liquid unpredictable colors that sometimes react with lemon juice to do truly weird stuff. I also enjoy lemon balm. Things like mint are great, peppermints and spearmints; I prefer spearmints but my sister hates the plants and killed mine, so I make do with peppermint. A recent discovery is that mountain mint is a peppermint! but do take care, there’s one variety that’s toxic, so make sure you know what’s in your garden.
(PAUSE FOR A PSA: HERBS ARE CHEMICALS. PLEASE TAKE CARE. Some herbs have medicinal uses, which means they can heal you, but just like any medicine, they can hurt you too. Please at least do a quick Google of anything you want to consume, and find out if it’s contraindicated for something you’ve got. ESPECIALLY pregnancy oh my GOD. It’s astonishing how many abortifacients we blithely grow in our gardens.)
Anyhow– lavender is great but like mint, sometimes tastes like soap. Combine judiciously.
My favorite combos: Mint and Sage, Lemon basil and lemon balm, basil and strawberries (!!!), etc.
Step 3: Put the herbs and a big schmooey of honey (like half a cup, really) in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the bowl. You want to wind up with like, a quart of liquid, so the bowl can be a bit bigger than that to allow for the herbs.
Step 4: let that steep for 5-10 minutes, stirring well to make sure the honey dissolves.
Step 5: If you left the herbs in big pieces, fish them out with whatever you were stirring with. if not, find a strainer. Retrieve your container of water from the fridge, and pour your herbal tisane/syrup into the container of water. Stir well, and let chill an hour or so, or enjoy over ice.
Lasts like a week in the fridge. Optional: Add lemon or lime juice for flavor, or if you want to make a switchel, you can add a whole bunch of apple cider vinegar and maybe a pinch of salt– those are fantastic for really hot days. (I use like, ½-¾ cup of vinegar, and I increase the amount of honey too, switchels ought to be intense but then dilute over ice, that’s how I like them anyway.)
Tip: Anything you put in boiling water is going to wind up discolored and wilted and gross. Strain that out before you let the tea sit. But for looks, you can totally save out a pretty sprig or two of your chosen herb, and put that into the pitcher to kind of “label” it in the fridge, or save some for garnish. This goes quadruple for strawberries, or any kind of berry you’re lucky enough to have for this use. Save some out to put in after it’s cold. Berries will only stay nice a few hours in the liquid so add them a little while before you intend to consume the beverage.
(Your picture was not posted)
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Date: 2018-07-04 11:29 pm (UTC)Note to self for next spring...