the pleasing complexity of my day

[digitS']

My favorite herb tea in the supermarket is Stash Licorice Spice but I've also enjoyed the catnip that grows here and there in my yard and near the veggie garden. This year, more herb plants went into the garden just for the purpose of enjoying as tea. (or tisanes for you herbalists)

Seed was purchased and little plants were started early in the season. They first went together into planters but the tea plants soon required more room. They were all perennials and right now, there are a few dozen of these guys out in my garden. Meanwhile, here at home, I'm enjoying the dried leaves brewed-up in a cup of boiling water often thru these long cold days and nights of Winter.

Here is what's out there under the snow:

Anise hyssop*
Korean mint*
Sweet fennel*
Wild bergamot
Lemon balm

Already growing in my yard were:
Catnip*
Lemon Verbena*

* in the picture

I have to say a couple things about this selection:
1. Lemon balm was already growing in my yard, I didn't really care for it, and I have NO IDEA why I planted more!
2. The jury is still out on the Sweet fennel. I really should purchase some seeds at the supermarket and see if I like those in a tea. The plants didn't have time to mature seeds this year and the foliage has a nice fragrance but is very mild, too mild.
3. The Wild bergamot may not be to my liking. Those plants stayed very small and didn't even flower this year. Since it is supposed to be the flowers that are used - I don't really know what I've got yet - the leaves taste "medicinal!"

The Lemon verbena that I have in the cup is very wonderful alone. It can be added to the other herbs and those are really best in combination anyway. You can see, I've mostly gone for a licorice flavor selection. The catnip is kind of an unusual flavor and you either like it or it's not your cup of tea - - I like it but catnip seems also best combined with some of these others. The Anise hyssop and Korean mint were just what I was looking for!! There's a very pleasing complexity to the flavors of my day!



Steve

 

[patandchickens]

Have you tried sweet cicely? It is another of the nice licoricey anisey things. Never tries it in a tea but should work, is nice in salads etc.

Pat

 

[henrietta23]

Mmmm, I'm going to make a cup of tea right now!
I have anise hyssop growing wild along my garage and in the cracks in the driveway. I have no idea where it came from to begin with but I'm happy to have it stay!

 

[digitS']

Most of these herbs are really easy to grow. In fact, wild bergamot is . . . well . . . wild!

I don't know anything about it because it doesn't grow wild here. And, I don't know anything about Sweet Cicely, either. I don't think that one is wild . . .

When I was a kid, there was a plant that grew along the irrigation ditch beside the orchard I walked past on the way home. Home was a small farm and I had to walk a mile to the bus stop every school day. Of course I told my own kids that it was 5 miles and I had to walk in waist deep snow - - uphill, both ways.

But anyway . . . I really liked to hold a stem of that plant in my mouth as I walked along. It was one of those Umbelliferae type plants and had a pronounced licorice flavor. I finally decided that I'd be poisoning myself if I continued to enjoy it - doubt if that was at all true. I was probably at far more risk from the chemicals they sprayed on the orchard.

These days, I enjoy 3 or 4 cups of the herbal tea every day. What I've found is that I'm goin' thru it pretty darn fast but that means I'm not buying the Stash. Actually, it takes quite a few plants to keep a couple of tea drinkers happy - apparently. I guess that the DW and me will require about 20 plants or maybe more for 12 months of herbal pleasure.

You're lucky, Kristin, to have the anise hyssop already at hand. They are my favorite fresh but the very similar Korean mint seems to dry very well. It has a slight minty flavor that I couldn't really detect when it was fresh - it tasted licorice-like but that's changed just a bit as its dried.

I'm still buying Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime for the nice mint and chamomile flavor of that tea. It makes a good contrast to what I've already got in the cupboard. In fact, I've got a mug of it right now . . . Gosh, life is tuff . . .

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

I really liked to hold a stem of that plant in my mouth as I walked along. It was one of those Umbelliferae type plants and had a pronounced licorice flavor. I finally decided that I'd be poisoning myself if I continued to enjoy it - doubt if that was at all true.

Feral anise?


Pat

 

[Reinbeau]

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) is a lovely plant, I've had it for years near my back door. The green seedpods are really nice to nibble on if you like licorice, little kids are thrilled with them. It likes a bit of shade or, lacking that, evenly moist soil. Mine mingles with my large Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra exima). I pot some up each May for the plant sale.

 

[digitS']

Myrrhis odorata is shown by the USDA Plant Database as being an invasive species in Oregon but not really near the county where I spent much of my childhood - Jackson in southern Oregon. But, the illustration certainly looks like what I was picking. Don't suppose I was venturing into someone's yard, do you? There were a few residences on the route.

It likes a bit of shade or, lacking that, evenly moist soil.

Well, that leaves out my large veggie garden (aka "the blast furnace" :coolsun where the tea herbs are now.

Oddly, anise hyssop is neither anise (Pimpinella anisum) nor a hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) but rather Agastache foeniculum . . . Amicule, deliciae, num is sum qui mentiar tibi?

Steve