How do I use these plants for tea?

[damummis]

When I use my beebalm I use one leaf with black tea. Throw the leaf in a cup squish it with a spoon a little and make my tea with a regular black tea bag. Taste like Earl Grey, but fresher.

Is that squish it when it's fresh Dammumis, or when it's been dried?

Fresh.

 

[897tgigvib]

Here at the lake we have a kind of mint, I can tell it's a Mentha, that grows along the lake's shore and up the streams. It is one of those plants that has two separate forms of leaves. A mostly dieback perennial, in its rosette stage the leaves are round and oily glossy looking. Once the stems grow, up the stems are smaller, more coarse leaves. The rosette leaves are dried, and a tea made from them is a very wild flavor, like of the outdoors along a stream on a hot summer day where mint plants are crushed by feet.

The stem leaves are dried and crushed to make a medicinal native tea, very strong, left to partially evaporate, turned to mush, and the concoction swallowed. It is supposed to be a form of birth control the natives used before europeans came. Sounds awful.

These plants are a beautiful, mostly dieback perennial native to this region, I think unique to here, but are common here. Their flowers are typical Mentha light blue. The aroma is like most of the Mints, a bit stronger in the sun, and a bit more wild.

Many of the Menthas and Monardas have leaves that are to be slowly dried, that is "cured", and after the drying is done, then the leaves are crushed. They can be crushed extremely finely, placed in a glass with everclear or vodka or Gin 50/50 with water, allowed to steep overnight, and then heated on a stove at low to evaporate the alcohol, and then filtered to make MINT EXTRACT. Different Gins will add different flavors, Bombay Blue a special flavor some folks like, some don't. (((No I'm not a drinker, but used to be a bartender)))

There are different ways to make different kinds of extracts, but it is the alcohol that draws the flavor to extract. Some would steep the crushed leaves in the alcohol and filter without evaporating. That kind is used immediately or sealed tight. When used in a recipe that is cooked, such as mint cookies, the alcohol evaporates.

Curing any leaves needs to be done right, and appropriate for the leaf type. The idea is to keep the oils, and other good things, in the leaf, while letting the moisture dissipate. That usually means slowly. Properly cured leaves make better tea. Too slow a dry might let mold happen, or might let the flavor ingredients dissipate. Each kind is different.

A good safe typical cure is in a typical kitchen cupboard. Use an absorbent paper plate to set them on, well spread. Set another similar paper plate over the other one, but leave plenty of gap. Stir the leaves each day and replace, until they are crispy, but surprisingly thick. Might take a week. Do not wait too much after the peak cure. So be ready, or like my sister, be anxiously awaiting the peak.

I'm not sure how to cure Camelia sinensis. But I sure want to know!

 

[Gnome_Czech]

I've added 2 more mints to my tea garden - chocolate and spearmint. We will see how those go! Also will start bergamot soon