Spring Tonic Tea

Some of my favourite things to bring to my culinary frolics at this time of year are teas and infusions from freshly growing shoots. There’s just something that feels deeply nourishing to me about stepping just yards from the kitchen door and doing a bit of weeding (well, that’s how I pretend I’m helping Nik in the garden) before brewing up a delicate tonic, full of the promise of spring and a cocktail of nutrients that nature deems appropriate to make available just now.
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​The term ‘weed’ in my book, simply means ‘plants growing in inconvenient places’ but I did actually go a little further afield (maybe ten minutes up the lane) today to find a crop of dandelions which inconveniently weren’t growing in the garden!  I think that counts as a proper forage! I also grabbed a handful of cleavers to add to the pot! (cleavers is also called ‘sticky weed’ and sometimes ‘sticky willy’ but I avoid the latter term myself, ahem.) Dandelions are famous for having a diuretic effect and cleavers are also traditionally utilised to benefit the urinary tract and renal system so this blend is a real flush-you-out spring cleaning detox of a tea. Here’s how I make it:

You want to pick your flowers and greens as soon before making the tea as you can. Once they wilt, they lose a lot of life and flavour, as well as actually starting to look like weeds, or worse, a compost heap! Give them a gentle wash and carefully relocate the mini-beasts that emerge as soggy refugees from your crop. Remove the flower heads from the stems. The leaves can be lovely in salad (note to self for a future post!) but I’ve never found a pleasant use for the thick hollow stems that seep sticky, white and very bitter sap. You really just want the flowers! Get some water boiling (I’ve been using a lovely old copper pot which I’d like to think adds a bit of extra micro nutrient to the brew!) and then reduce it to a simmer. Add the flowers and cleavers, but you really don’t want to boil them. For this tea, I added the juice of half a lime, but note, if you are also using a copper pot, best to add that the tea pot and then pour the tea onto the lime juice. Acidic things in copper pots are liable to result in a little bit too much extra copper in your diet! You could also sweeten it. When I was living in the Taraloka community, we often had organic apple juice concentrate in the ‘fridge and a little of that worked very well with the light flavours but I’d also consider using agave syrup (date would be too heavy) and if you’re not strictly vegan, there’s always the classic spoon of (preferably local) honey!

Other plants I’ve been brewing up recently include nettles (not just good for soup!) and fresh mint shoots… Mmmm, freshness! You could use any of those on their own or make a super brew! I’m also looking forward to my lemon balm getting more leafy; one of my favourite herbal brews! 

​So there we are, as simple as that! It really doesn’t take long and it’s such a refreshing treat of a way to bring some spring time health and healing to your system. Incidentally, I always like to ask permission before I harvest any plant. I’d like to think I have a sense of when the answer is ‘no’ but it more often than not seems to be a ‘yes’.  At the very least I’d say it’s important to cultivate a sense of gratitude. How you communicate that is up to you but holding it in mind as you prepare, enjoy and benefit from the plants is part of the magic, I have no doubt!
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Wishing you a joyful spring unfurling until the next post! xx