Tastebuds Tingling
This weekend had our tastebuds tingling! The weekend was all about the taste of herbs, and how we can understand and learn so much about the actions and impacts of herbs on our body just by their flavor!
The day began with Lee and Alexis sharing teas and plants covering all 5 tastes; Sour, Pungent, Bitter, Salty and Sweet!
We used this handy flavor wheel to connect the flavor of a herb with the constituents within them and their action on our bodies. For example we learned how the sour flavor can be the result of tannins in the plant, which can help to stimulate digestion! We tasted Sumac, Lemons and Wood Sorrel!
The Sweet flavor often comes from the roots, where plants store nutrients and sugars! We tasted the sweetness of Marshmallow and Licorice Root!
After a talk on herbal energetics and matching herbs to our own body constitution (quiz yourself here to learn about yours) the tasting continued, this time in the form of tinctures! It is amazing how such a small drop of tincture can contain so much flavor! Alexis passed around and abundance of tinctures and we used our understanding of different flavors, and energetics and compared what we noticed. For example if a herb was Hot/Cold, Damp/Dry.
Woowza, the Caynne Pepper, and Wormwood got strong responses!
We set off to forage for ingridents for a bitter tincture blend to be used to help with digestion, or even for fancy cocktails!
For the bitter blend we combined:
-2 parts Mugwort as the key, or primary herb whose action we desire the most
-1part Yarrow and Motherwort as the supporting herbs who have similar actions to the key herb. Both Yarrow and Motherwort are bitter too!
-1part Bergamot and Lemon Balm as the Balancing herbs to help tone down harsh actions. In this case these herbs help tone down the intense bitter flavor
-1 part Anise Hyssop as the catalyst to enhance the overall effect of the herbs. Other great catalyst herbs include Ginger, Lobelia, Juniper berries.
We cut the herbs into the smallest peices possible to create as much surface area them to adbsorb into the alchol.
We also harvested an abundance of St. Johns Wort to infuse in oil to help with pain, inflimation and so much more!
In the evening we ventured down the road to collect Elderflowers and Milkweed flowers for fritters!
Yummmmmmmmm! After a tasty potluck feast we gathered to make herbal cocktails. Lee had prepared a number of infustions earlier in the day for mixing and matching!
We made:
Lemon Balm, Thyme, Lavander infused in Vodka
Cedar infused in Whiskey
White Pine, Elderflower and Mint Syrup (a tea of the herb mixed with sugar)
and a Black Raspberry, Strawberry Sumac Shrub (vinegar infusion)
Herbal Sangria, with Bergamot and Borage flowers!
Elderflower Syrup combined with and Lavander infused vodka!
We took turns mixing and matching the many infused vodkas with syrups, shrubs and soda water! Some winning comobonations included:
3 Trees to the Wind- Cedar Whiskey + Maple Syrup+ White Pine Syrup +Soda Water
Friends of the Forest- Black Raspberry Shrub + Cedar Whiskey +Soda Water
Strawberries on the Beach- Sumac Strawberry Shrub + Thyme Vodka +Soda Water
What a wonderful, and tasty day!
