Folkways
by Maya Brown
WINTER IS THE TIME FOR BITTERS
I
n this issue I am talking drinks
and syrups. All those wonderful
concoctions you can make and
have for the winter months that are
upon us.
We eat rich, wonderful and deli-
cious food in the winter. Oh, how we
love the holiday traditions that focus
around food and drinks! There are
two nutrients humans need that
require a great amount of work to
earn: sugar, anything sweet and fat. It
is no wonder we want those first! So,
after a winter of hiding out from the
cold and hard work, combined with
the great number of Yuletide celebra-
tions, it’s not surprising we feel slug-
gish, like the filter and carburetor
aren’t running right. I love tea, bitters
and spring plants to kick start every-
thing and help get rid of that sluggish
feeling.
BURDOCK
First there is burdock, lovely bur-
dock. She grows just about every-
where. I prefer the second-year roots
dug up in the spring. Peeling the out-
side removes the bitterest part but I
actually like the twang it gives. The
first-year roots are easier to dig up, but
much less bitter, and smaller. Dig up
burdock, clean and rinse the roots off,
slice like a carrot and use in any recipe
you wish. I love burdock roots in stir-
fry. You can also make a really won-
derful burdock root tea (recipe below)
and drink to your health. You can also
eat the leaves in a cooked salad, for
instance.
DANDELION
Do you remember the sheer joy of
dandelion flowers? I do. I love how
soft the petals are, the perfect green of
the leaves and stem and the bright yel-
low against the grass, like some happi-
ness and oddities showing up.
Dandelion roots, much like burdock
18
roots, are also fan-
tastic in stir fry and
tea, but let me tell
you about dande-
lion roots as a
slightly
roasted
morning drink. I
hesitate to call it a
coffee substitute,
because it isn’t, and
that is unfair to
both dandelion and
coffee. To make a
tea, find your dan-
delions, pick them
(don’t throw away
the leaves or flow-
ers!), chop up the
roots and cook in a
cast iron pan until they are slightly
roasted. Steep the roasted roots and
make as you would coffee. You can
use the dandelion leaves and flowers
in other foods. Put the flowers in
muffins and leaves in salads. I’ve cov-
ered both of those ideas in previous
articles.
NETTLES
If I could get everyone to do only a
couple of things, the top of that list
would be to drink and eat nettles
every day. I like infusing dried nettles
in a quart of water overnight, strain-
ing and reserving the liquid and
drinking it over the day. It is among
my favorite drinks and I can really feel
the difference when I have nettles. I
put about a quarter cup of dried net-
tles in a quart (large) mason jar, fill it
up with water and let it set 4-8 hours.
I usually do this overnight and sip on
it while waiting for my coffee to get
done. There are many more things
you can do with nettles, but they do
need to be either dried or cooked or
you will really understand why their
name is Stinging Nettles.
Cenizo
First Quarter 2019
Photo courtesy Maya Brown
BURDOCK AND DANDELION
ROOT TEA
1 teaspoon dried burdock root
1 teaspoon dried dandelion root
2 dried red clover flowers
Dried peppermint leaves to taste
4 cups hot water
Steep and strain to make tea.
NETTLE TEA
¼ cup or so dried nettles
5 cups hot water
A squirt of lemon juice
Similarly sized squirt of honey or
maple syrup
Make a tea as described above, let
cool and strain, reserving liquid and
adding lemon and honey or maple
syrup. Drink the YUM!
RASPBERRY, ROSEHIPS AND
NETTLE TEA
1 ½ oz. raspberry leaves (You can
grow these assuming you’re in
the right area.)
1 oz. dried nettles. These can
grow anywhere.
½ oz. Rosehips, Yep, the ones off
your non-sprayed rose bushes,
picked at the end of the
season.
½ oz. Hibiscus flowers—make
sure you get the edible ones.
The Mexican Grocers have
good ones.
½ oz. dried orange peel. I save my
orange peels and dry them
myself.
4 cups hot water
Steep and strain to make tea.
You can change things around with
any of these recipes as your taste buds,
how much you want to grow yourself
or not, time and other circumstances
dictate.
One of the things I like best about
these recipes is that you can grow
and harvest the ingredients as well as
blend them yourself. They are perfect
for gifts. I hope you really groove and
get into making your own teas and
drinks with recipes you have
invented.
As always, with love, Maya