Category: tea

Seasonings from the Garden

Perk up salads, make your own meat rubs and sweeten up your Iced tea with herbs from your garden.

No68AIMG_0663cPerk up salads, make your own meat rubs and sweeten up your Iced tea with herbs from your garden. These recipes from my seminar at the 2017 Northwest Flower & Garden Show are perfect to make now while there is an abundance of herbs in the garden to harvest and preserve.

seasonings gardenHerbed Lime Rub
This is one of my favorites. I love a kick of lemon and lime on many things and this has just enough zip to it that it can be used as an all-purpose sprinkle on salads. Use as a dry rub to flavor meat as you are prepping them for the grill. Just the right zest for chicken and salmon.
1/3 cup Sea salt (coarse, grind)
1 teaspoon lime zest (add more to taste)
1 teaspoon dried Garlic granules
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian flat leaf parsley
Mix all ingredients well. Keep the blend chunky for meat rubs. You can grind this blend down (in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle) to a finer mix for use as a seasoning salt.

Rosemary Smoked Salt
Aromatic salts make this the perfect mix for beef and heavy sauces using tomatoes. Nice strong herbal mix for use to season meats while grilling.
1 cup coarse smoked salt
1/4 cup dried rosemary leaves (whole)
1 tablespoon dried garlic granules
Mix all ingredients together. Crushed the mix slightly with a mortar and pestle to release the essence of the rosemary and garlic into the mix. Store in a glass spice shaker.

Lavender sel et poivre (salt and pepper)
An elegant salad seasoning. This lighter tasting mix can be used on chicken and pork to season.
1 tablespoon dried lavender buds
3 tablespoons coarse French grey sea salt
Ground peppercorns to taste (approximately a 1/2 teaspoon).
Mix all ingredients together. Grind down if you want the mix to be finer and able to sprinkle through a shaker top. Store in a glass spice shaker.

For your Sweet Tooth

Rose-Lavender-Lemon Sugar
Perfect for iced tea to add sweetness and flavor. Use in baking and to dust the tops of warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven.
1/2 cup coarse raw sugar
2 tablespoons dried rose petals
1 tablespoon dried lavender buds
1 tablespoon lemon powder
Grind all ingredients in a coffee bean grinder to mix well and create a fine textured blend. Store in a glass jar.

Mint Sugar
Use to sweeten tea or rim a cocktail glass
Mint sugar: Ratio: ground 1/3 dried mint leaves, 2/3 coarse grind sugar. Blend ingredients together in a coffee bean grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Store in a glass jar.

herb seasoning bundle editCreate your own Signature Blends
Store these dried herb mixes in tiny tins and label. Easy savory seasonings from the garden, perfectly gift-able too!

Tie small bundles of herbs together and allow them to dry. Once they are dry strip the leaves from the stems, mix in something that tingles the taste buds like salt, pepper or a citrus zest. Slightly crush together so that the essential oils from the herbs blend together in the mix.
Package the mix in small metal tins and label.

For chicken: Herbs-Lemon thyme and French tarragon. Add dried lime peel.
Pork: Sage, rosemary and French thyme. Add cracked black pepper
Beef: Oregano and Basil. Add dried garlic granules.
Seafood: Dried bronze fennel and lemon verbena. Add dried lemon peel.

Resource for bulk smoked and sea salts, peppercorns, garlic granules and jars www.mountainroseherbs.com 

Tins, bottles and packaging www.specialtybottle.com

 

 

 

 

Make Time!

sugarsLovely thoughts flutter through your mind to hand craft  all of your gifts this year. Just imagine it, Christmas music playing in the background, an area set aside for all your crafting gear (and not having to clear the dining room table for a meal!) …yes, it is nice to dream. Then there is the calendar flipping its days so fast it could make your head spin.  Time is the rare commodity as holiday activities run away with it all. 

Here are a few links to DIY gifts that look like you worked on for days but will take only  a matter of hours from start to wrapping.

Give joy!

 

http://www.pinterest.com/gardenersue/make-joy/

https://creativegardener.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/last-minute-gift-ideas-herbal-scented-sugars/

https://creativegardener.wordpress.com/category/recipes/

 

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Herbal Scented Sugars

For the sweet tooth on your list, create a mini selection of herb-infused sugars.

Wrap up in a gift box and include a recipe book or cards sharing how to use them!

Use peppermint or spearmint leaves, rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium),  lavender buds,  rose petals, lemon verbena leaves, vanilla beans or ginger. All the following recipes become more flavorful as the fragrance infuses into the sugar. Use decorative glass jars that seal tight.

Herb leaf or flower petal sugar

Alternate a layer of sugar and the chosen herb until the jar is full. Allow to sit a few days before use to allow the flavor to infuse through the sugar.

Vanilla Sugar

3 cups sugar and 2 vanilla beans

Directions: Place sugar in a bowl. Using a sharp knife, cut vanilla beans in half,  lengthwise. Scrape seeds from the pod into the sugar. Mix vanilla seeds and sugar to evenly distribute the seeds throughout the sugar. Strain sugar mixture through a fine mesh or cheesecloth into an airtight container. Halve vanilla pods crosswise, and submerge them in sugar.

 Lemon Sugar

3 or 4 small lemons and 2 cups sugar

Directions: Use the zest (the skin) from the lemons. Scrape as much of the white, bitter pith off as possible. Add zest to a food processor and grind with 1 cup of sugar until thoroughly mixed.

Transfer the mix to a medium bowl. Add remaining cup sugar, and toss until evenly mixed. Allow to dry before placing in a glass jar, by spreading the sugar mix on a cookie sheet at room temperature for about an hour or until dry.

Ginger Sugar

In a food processor, whirl together one cup of sugar with a few chunks of candied/crystallized ginger.

Ideas for use:

-Rim the glass of a cocktail with lemon-infused sugar by running a fresh-cut lemon slice around the rim and dipping it in the sugar mix.

-Rose geranium sugar and other herbal sugars are perfect to sweeten tea or to sprinkle on the top of shortbread or scones.

-Use peppermint infused sugar in coffee, tea or hot toddy’s

-Sprinkle vanilla and ginger infused sugar on warm gingersnaps,  fresh from the oven (see my favorite gingersnap recipe)

Last minute gift Idea: Wrap up Tea Time

Wrap up Tea Time


Purchase pre-packaged or make your own blends if you have dried herbs harvested from the summer garden.

Create a unique card to hold tea bags. Try this easy one sheet (scrapbook paper 12 x 12) folded accordion card,

how-to’s are here:

http://scrapbooking.about.com/od/3dembellishments/ss/onesheetminibook.htm

Gift Package with a tea cup, shortbread cookies, a jar of honey, and a personal sentiment,  plus inspirations that slow the pace and relax with a cup of tea,  like a good book.

 

 

 

 

Create unique blends to give

Herbal Tea Recipe Blends:
Experiment with flavors you like, try not to add more than three ingredients at a time.
Sweet, Minty and Soothing
1 cup dried lavender buds
1 cup dried spearmint
½ cup dried German chamomile blossoms
A Tangy Touch Of Citrus
1 cup dried pineapple sage
1 cup rosehips, lightly crushed
½ cup dried lemon balm 
A Floral Blend
½ cup rose petals
½ cup lavender buds
1 cup lemon verbena

Herbs Mixed With Indian or China Teas:

Create flavorful blends from purchased bulk teas. Mix a single herb with bulk tea such as Darjeeling, green or Earl Gray to create unique blends.  The homegrown herb will enhance the tea with flavor and fragrance. Begin by mixing the tea 4 parts to 1 part of dried herb.


Combinations to try:

English lavender buds with Earl Gray

Spearmint with green tea

Bee balm with Darjeeling

Package hand-blended loose teas in small glassine bags.Seal and label with the flavor and instructions on how to brew.To use: 1 teaspoon of loose herbs per cup of hot water.

Copy this tea label or make your own. This beautiful frame was found at http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

Recycle!

This is a post from my former blog that is timely considering it is a chilly day and the tea kettle is whistling!

A blustery day and tea…

It seems a blustery, cold fall day sends us a signal to go inside for a hot cup of tea. One of my favorite ways to use herbs fresh or dried is to blend them with different types of black or Chinese teas.

These types of tea that are typically purchased and are really just the many ways Camellia sinensis (the true tea plant) is harvested, dried and preserved. Purchase them loose and handblend flavorful teas with your own herbs from the garden. Flowers harvested for teas include German chamomile, lavender, calendula, roses. Leaves include lemon verbena, mints, bee balm, sage, rosemary.

How to blend your own teas:

Harvest herbs from the garden and dry them. Store in glass jars. These will be like your own buffet of flavors to add to ordinary teas.

Mix a single herb with purchased tea such as Darjeeling, green or Earl Gray to create flavored blends:

Combinations to try:

Lavender buds with Earl Gray

Mint leaves with green tea

Bee balm leaves and Darjeeling

Rose petals and irish breakfast

Chamomile flowers and white tea.

To use: measure approximately 1 teaspoon of loose herb per cup of hot tea. Adjust to taste

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