herbal tea - The Bridge Cottage

Make Your Own Herbal Tea

July 17, 2020/0 Comments/in The Bridge Cottage Kitchen/by Sue Reed

Drinking Moroccan Mint Tea with Berber Men

Nettle Herbal Tea

Making your own herbal tea is easy, especially if you are growing herbs in the garden. As far as sustainable living goes, making your own herbal tea from herbs in the garden cuts down on packaging and transport, not to mention manufacturing output. It also tastes delicious and will save you money.

If you’ve ever been to Morocco, then you’ll know all about mint tea. Tradition has it, that the higher the height that your host pours the tea from, so making bubbles in the cup, then the more honoured you are, as a guest. We’ve travelled extensively in Morocco, the first time being on our honeymoon. We were invited to stay with a Berber family and participate in a wedding. It was an experience we’ve never forget. The warmth and hospitality of the family were wonderful. Here I am, drinking mint tea with the men of the community. We brought a rooted sprig of mint home with us from Marrakesh and it’s been growing in our garden ever since.

Mint

Mint (Mentha spicata) is probably one of the oldest culinary herbs to be used in the Mediterranean region and is mentioned in all the early writings of physicians and naturalists. It was used in medicine as well as for food because of its value as a digestive. Care should be taken when planting it, as it has long underground runners and will soon take over a patch if it is not planted in a bucket or bag.

There are lots of different varieties of mint, and one of my favourites is Chocolate Mint (Mentha piperita) which smells of After Eight mints, although mores the pity, does not taste of them.

To make mint herbal tea Moroccan style, warm your pot and then add a large handful of freshly picked mint, some sugar to taste (the Moroccans like lots of sugar) a couple of teaspoons of green gunpowder tea if you have it, if not, green tea. And top with boiling water. Pour from a height into mint tea glasses of cups if you haven’t got them. Moroccans traditionally pour the first cup back into the pot.

Fennel Seeds

In October, the fennel seeds are ready to harvest on our vigorous fennel plant, and they can be dried to make a delicious tea. Herb fennel is a totally different plant to the Florence bulb fennel. Simply gather seeds and use fresh or dried. Store in a clean jar once dried to give fennel tea all year round. Fennel seeds have awesome health benefits, and I drink it to reduce water retention. Also great for digestion, constipation and IBS. Fennel seeds are rich in vitamin A, so good for eyesight too. Simply take a tsp of dried fennel seeds, give a rough crush with a pestle and mortar to release the flavour, then pour on boiling water and steep for five minutes, before straining and pouring.

Purple Sage

Another of my favourite herbs for adding to tea, is Sage, (Salvia officinalis) and I often combine mint and sage together as it makes a delicious tea. As with mint, just make an infusion by add pouring boiling water over a few leaves and leaving to brew.

Sage has many health benefits, and is good for coughs and colds, oral health (making a good mouthwash) and digestion. It is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiseptic.

Sage is also a valuable herb for menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, digestive problems and memory loss.

thyme

I love to grow Thyme (Thymus vulgaris), and it can be seen here growing well in my greenhouse even though it’s November.

Besides its many culinary uses, thyme herbal tea is a must in our house when the kids have sore throats. It gets its medicinal use from the component thymol, which is a powerful antiseptic.

Make a tea using a large handful of fresh thyme, and add a good teaspoon of honey to the cup. this can also be bottled and given cold to sip if preferred.

Borage

Throughout history, thyme has always been associated with strength and happiness. In the Middle Ages, it was a symbol of courage, and high-ranking ladies embroidered sprigs of thyme on to the clothes of knights going off to fight in the Crusades. Another herb for courage is borage – Brage for bravery as the saying goes.

Rose and Raspberry Leaves

Rose is a herb I’ve been experimenting with of late, and this can be added dried or fresh to teas, helping promote a sense of calm. Use pink or red rose petals for the best medicinal effect.

Lemon balm too, is a beautiful herb with a refreshing taste, that calms the nerves and reduces anxiety.

lemon balm herbal tea

Like its friend, mint, lemon balm needs to contained, as it loves to spread.

Lavender can also be used, and used to help promote sleep, although take care not to add too much or your tea can taste soapy.

Elderflower and mint tea

I’ve been making blends of tea for friends and family this summer – a blend of relaxing tea with lemon balm, mint, elderflowers, lavender and rose for a friend who has been having trouble sleeping.

My daughter is expecting our second grandchild in November, and I’ve made her a batch of raspberry leaf tea – a remedy used for centuries to tone the uterus and prepare the muscles for childbirth, though this should only be drunk in the later stages of pregnancy.

This is all well and good during the summer months, when herbs can be picked fresh from the garden, but it is prudent to dry herbs in the summer for use over winter.

Drying Herbs

Herbs can, of course, be grown in pots, and many will survive all year round if brought inside and placed on a sunny windowsill or in a conservatory.

The possibilities and blends are many, and I’ll leave you to experiment with making your own herbal tea.

herbal tea

I’m off the put the kettle on!

Read more about growing and using herbs in these posts:

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other section of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what is seasonal and on topic:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the mailing list below. This will go out four times a year, around the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Spring and Autumn Equinox. We of course will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

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Growing Herbs

July 14, 2020/0 Comments/in The Bridge Cottage Garden/by Sue Reed

A guide to growing herbs and some suggestions for their uses from the Bridge Cottage garden and kitchen.

Growing Herbs The Bridge Cottage Way

A herb is a plant, flower or leaf that is grown for culinary, medicinal or beauty uses.

Herbs can be grown in pots, on a windowsill or in the ground, and will thrive in a sunny, sheltered position. They will provide you with delicious and nutritious flavourings for your cooking, for teas and have been used for medicinal uses for centuries.

Herbs can be divided into two groups:

Annuals which should be planted yearly, and include tender herbs such as basil, parsley, marjoram, coriander, borage. Sow basil and coriander every few weeks to give a continuous supply throughout the growing season. Collect seeds before composting plants at the end of the year.

Perennials will, with a little tender loving care, keep giving every year. Just snip off leaves when you need them. These include herbs such as mint, lemon balm, sage, chives, thyme, rosemary, oregano, fennel.

Basil as a companion plant to tomatoes

Sow tender herbs such as basil in a greenhouse, or on a sunny windowsill. Basil is a great companion plant to tomatoes both in the saucepan and in the greenhouse or on a windowsill. We’ve found that growing basil in containers is better than in the ground. We are careful not to over water basil and pick by removing the larger leaves. Basil freezes well, as does parsley, and you’ll be very grateful of frozen herbs in the depths of winter.

Mint, loved by us for mint tea, is a spreader – along with its friend, lemon balm, it is best grown in a pot if you don’t want it taking over. We’ve just noticed the mint we brought back from Morocco and planted in the ground is now growing in our farmer’s field. I hope the cows like it!

Lemon balm grown in a tyre to prevent spreading

We grow our lemon balm in a recycled tyre and find this help to prevent the spread. As well as mint sauce to go with roast lamb, mint is super in a Taboulleh in raita with curry, or combined with its friends lemon balm and nettles, in a refreshing herbal tea. There are lots of varieties of mint – we love chocolate mint which smells of After Eights.

Thyme is a wonderful herb for use in cooking, added to herb salt, and saved for medicinal uses. Whenever the family have a sore throat, I pipe up ‘thyme tea’ and brew it with honey for sore throats and colds. It is easy to grow and will do well in pots of in the ground. There are lots of varieties, and a container display of different thymes can be very pretty.

Chives grown in a recycled container

Chives are really easy to grow and will come back year after year. They are a good container herb if space is tight. We once grew chives in a recycled Vax! Snip a few chives to go into a potato salad, and don’t forget to pickle the flower heads – delicious!

Rosemary

Rosemary is another perennial herb to grown and this one seems to like the sunny position we’ve given it against a west-facing wall. It’s July as I write this, and on Gardener’s World last week, Monty Don told us it was time to take rosemary cuttings, so that’s a job for the weekend, and I’ll write a piece about that in the next couple of days.

How to take Rosemary Cuttings by Gardener’s World.

Parsley is slow to germinate – I had read that you should pee on it to help germination, though I’ve never done it! Parsley should be grown annually, although a late sowing will overwinter in the greenhouse and provide another flush before going to seed in Spring.

Purple Sage

Sage will keep growing, and benefits from being pruned in the Spring. As its stems are hollow, avoid cutting it back in winter, or the cold with travel down the stem and kill the plant. Sage is wonderful made as a tea and can help with menopausal hot flushes. It is also excellent for coughs and respiratory infections. We cook a sage and squash risotto in the autumn when squash are in season. Sage is a good herb to dry for use over winter, or pop into bags in the freezer. Sage and onion stuffing for chicken tastes so much better when it’s homemade, rather than from a packet!

Talking of seeds, don’t forget to collect your seeds, not only for growing herbs the following year but to use for cooking and tea. I adore fennel seeds any collect from this plant every year, keeping a jar handy for fennel tea and cooking. I have been told that adding fennel seeds to dishes with beans or lentils can help prevent excess flatulence!

Borage

Borage is a wonderful plant to grow and can be added to tea or strewn amongst salad leaves. Borage for bravery! It is an annual, although will self-seed, so only grow it where you are prepared for it to pop up every year. Borage is a great plant for adding to the comfrey feed bucket along with nettles, to provide a nutrient-rich feed for fruiting plants and hanging baskets – see the post on Making Comfrey Feed.

Fennel

Other posts you might enjoy if you are growing herbs:

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other section of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what is seasonal and on topic:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the mailing list here. This will go our four times a year, around the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Spring and Autumn Equinox. We of course will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Drying Herbs – The Bridge Cottage Way

July 3, 2020/0 Comments/in The Bridge Cottage Kitchen, The Bridge Cottage Garden/by Sue Reed

Homegrown herbs

Drying herbs can save you money and provide a good amount of flavoursome ingredients for the kitchen and medicine cabinet. Herbs that you have grown or foraged can and should be used when they are at their seasonal best. However, herbs can be preserved for use throughout the year by drying, and can then be used in your cooking, made into herbal and floral vinegar, herbal salt, and teas.

By growing, foraging and preserving your own herbs you will be living a more sustainable lifestyle by reducing transport costs and the need for single-use plastic and throw away packaging. You will be able to grow them as organically as you can, and will be assisting the biodiversity in your garden.

Head over to the Bridge Cottage Garden page to find out more about growing herbs.

Rule number one is to pick your herbs on a dry day. The less moisture there is to dry in the leaf and stem, the quicker your herb will dry and retain its properties. A damp or soggy herb will only slow the process down.

Drying herbs in an airy place

There are two ways of drying herbs:

Air Dry

Tie your herbs in small bunches, with a loop knot that tightens as they dry. Be careful not to try in too large a bunch, or the air will not be able to circulate. Hang out of the way in a light, warm and airy room or out-side undercover, but not in direct sunlight.

Avoid hanging in a kitchen and not in a bathroom as steam is not going to be helpful.

drying herbs on a surface

Dry Flat

This method is good for petals and herbs that have been removed from the stem. Removing from a stem helps your herbs to dry quicker, and this method can be good for herbs such as mint, lemon balm, comfrey.

A wicker basket is a useful tool here, as the gaps in the wicker help the air to circulate around your herbs.

A sheet of paper in a warm and airy room will work, and herbs can be raised on a cooling rack.

I’ve doctored an IKEA hanging rack, by cutting away the back, and hand this in the wardrobe in our spare room, with a window open a touch.

Your herbs will take anything from two days to two weeks to dry, depending on the moisture content and drying conditions.

Herbal tea mix of dried mint, lemon balm, rose, elderflower and lavender

Once herbs are dry, and brittle and can be scrunched, place in clean jars and label for use.

Electric dehydrators can also be used, but we try to save on using energy where we can.

We also freeze some herbs for use in cooking – parsley and basil in particular.

Elderflower and mint tea

You’ll not be sorry you went to all this effort when you can reach for tasty herbs to use to make a cuppa or to flavour your dinners in the depths of winter.

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other section of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what is seasonal and on topic:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the substack newsletter. This will go our four times a year, around the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Spring and Autumn Equinox. We of course will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Sign up for Substack Newsletter

Garden & Kitchen News from Bridge Cottage June 2020

June 28, 2020/0 Comments/in Uncategorized/by Sue Reed

Glastonbury 1985

It’s June 2020 and as I write this, the wind is howling and the rain is lashing down, It’s proper Glastonbury weather. It would have been Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary, but due to Coronavirus, it’s been cancelled. I last went in 1985 – it was a sea of mud, and I can’t remember who I saw. Now I’m happy to leave the thronging crowds to the youngsters, and spend the summer months in the garden.

Mangetout and Broad Bean Tips

June is a busy month in the garden, and welcome crops have been making themselves known in the Bridge Cottage kitchen. We’ve had our first tastes of mangetout, with a fabulous purple variety this year, Mangetout Snow Pea, Purple Shiraz as well as the more usual green variety. In the trug in this photo, you can also see the tops of broad beans which have been pinched out to deter blackfly.

Both mangetout and broad bean tips only need to be steamed for a couple of minutes of added to a stir fry and cooked lightly to be enjoyed.

Garlic bulbs drying under the eaves of the roundhouse

Our garlic crop has been harvested and is now hanging under the eaves of the sauna to dry. It got rust right at the end, but doesn’t seem to have suffered too badly for it. Soon the onions will be following suit – not with rust, but by being harvested.

Organic Comfrey Feed

The black liquid of our organic comfrey feed is starting to drip into the container beneath the compost bucket and this rich feed will now be added to water and be fed to my tomatoes and other fruiting crops. The hanging baskets, dahlias and sunflowers.

Making Organic Comfrey Feed

Growing Food in The Bridge Cottage Garden

It’s time now to think ahead to the winter and make sure you have winter veg sown. It’s not too late to set seed away for next Spelderflowerring’s Purple Sprouting Broccoli or kale and cabbages for over winter.

Salad crops too can be sown every month to ensure you have a regular supply of lettuces and not a glut all at once, and then a barren time. It’s too hot in the greenhouse now to grow rocket, but we’re having good success with rocket and cut and come again lettuce grown in containers on the patio.

Growing Food in The Bridge Cottage Garden

The potatoes are growing well and Tim has been earthing these up to allow as many potatoes to grow as possible.

The chard and spinach are both wonderful, and over on The Bridge Cottage Kitchen page, I’ve written out a recipe for using chard. We have kale ready for eating, and I’ll be getting some tonight to go with our Sunday dinner.

It’s strawberry time now, but we have lost our crop to the blackbirds. They were new plants in this year, and we should have thrown a net over them to protect them from the birds. Oh well, the birds are welcome to them. We have plenty to eat with rhubarb still going strong, and the gooseberries ripening nicely.

Gooseberry and elderflower ice cream

I thought I’d better use up the soft fruit that is still in the freezer from last year and made a delicious gooseberry and elderflower ice-cream, which you can try for yourselves.

Talking of elderflowers, now is the time to gather them, not forgetting to thank tree and bough. I’ve made elderflower vinegar, and will be mixing this with olive oil for a delicious summery salad dressing.

Elderflower cordial

Of course, elderflower cordial is a must, and can be frozen in small plastic bottles for use throughout the year. I only take a few blooms from each tree, saving plenty to turn into elderberries, which we’ll come to again in the autumn.

Elderflower recipes

The front of Bridge Cottage is laden with pink roses, and I thank whoever it was who was here before us and planted them. I’ve been drying rose petals to use in herbal teas. Now is a fabulous time to dry herbs, petals and leaves for use in the kitchen and for making tea, and this can see you right through the winter.

Roses on Bridge Cottage

Elderflower and mint tea

See my post over on the Bridge Cottage Kitchen page on using summer herbs for cooking and for teas. In June, I’ve been able to dry mint, lemon balm, sage, elderflower, rose, and rosebay willowherb. I’ve also made a couple of jars of herb salt, which will add delicious seasoning to our cooking.

The big news this June, has been the finishing of the pizza oven, and we’re enjoying lots of alfresco dining. If you’d like to see the movie we made about the build, head over to YouTube by following this link: the Bridge Cottage Pizza Oven Build. Tim’s worked really hard on this, and we’re very proud of him.

This is just a snapshot of some of the goings-on at Bridge Cottage this June. Head over to the other pages to get more in-depth writing about:

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or one our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

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