My Adventure with Yaupon Holly Tea.

[txcanoegirl]

Welcome txcanoegirl!! I'm in southeast Texas too, in Polk county. Have you tried to add other things to the yaupon tea? I'm wondering if a bit of orange peel might give it a little more flavor. We drink a lot of iced tea around here and a free tea would be cool.

I'm checking out the web sites you posted, they look real good. Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for the welcome!

I haven't tried the yaupon tea again, but adding the orange flavor sounds good. It's been a while, so maybe the roasted yaupon will actually taste better now that it has aged.

My dried American Holly is still in the pantry...I'm dreading those sharp leaf stickers that poke me every time I get close to them. After reading this thread, I'm anxious to get back to taste-testing the things I have readily available to me.

I make a lot of ginger tea because the ginger grows so well here. I haven't tried these yet, but blackberry and dewberry leaves are supposed to make good tea. I have an abundance of both, and will try it this spring. I make a lot of mint tea, too, but mostly just add it to my regular black tea that I buy, rather than using it all on its own. Lemon balm added to black tea is good...tastes lemony, but I find it doesn't keep well. The first glass or two tastes good, but if you make up a big pitcher of tea, the flavor seems to go "off" quickly. My regular mints don't do that. I have been told that Lemon Verbena is better, but I don't have it in my herb bed. I have also made goldenrod tea.

My understanding is that regular green and black teas are made from camellia leaves. I haven't researched which camellia plant I have, but if it is suitable, that should make a good tea. I also want to point out that I am very, very careful about eating or brewing any wild plant unless I am absolutely certain of its identity. If I'm not familiar with it, I also verify from more than one reliable source that it is safe. Some plants are safe for general consumption, some plants are toxic, but can be used for medicinal purposes in controlled amounts, and some plants are toxic and should not be consumed or tasted at all. Some plants have parts that are edible, but other parts are toxic. It's important to know what's what!

I have no connection with the foragingtexas website, but I use it for reference all the time. I still can't post links yet due to my newbie status here, but this page will give lots and lots of information on herbal teas from plants grown in my area of Texas. These plants are probably common in many other states, especially in the southeastern part of the U.S. You can cut and paste if you want to read his list of herbal teas and how to use them.

foragingtexas.com/2004/09/common-herbal-teas

Jill aka txcanoegirl

 

[Denim Deb]

If you're not sure of a plant, post it on here. I may be able to ID it for you. But, I'm not sure of how many of the plants you have in Texas are going to be the same as what's in NJ. A good book I have for IDing plants is Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. We used it as a text book in my college field botany class.

 

[Emerald]

as far as I know the camellia here in US are not toxic but not the same as the Camellia sinensis(the Tea plant). Not sure if I would want to try the camellia here.
I had a small flowering camellia for a long time in the house and the cats loved chewing on it so I went to the ASPA and checked their toxic plant to animal list and they said the cats and dogs are okay with it.
I have often thought about trying to find a real tea plant to grow in the house but I know that I would probably never get enuf to really make my own tea from it as I don't have the ideal place for it.
And where you are in Texas you should be able to grow Lemon Verbena almost year round! I've tried and tried to bring them in the house and just lose them over the winter. they do make a great tea.. to me Lemon balm smells like Lemon Pledge and it is just okay in tea.. But great chopped fine in my salsa seems to blend well with the tomatoes and peppers and onions.
I have grown ginger in a pot before and it beautiful plant but again it was just too slow for me but lucky my grocery store seems to have it cheap enuf and usually really nice and fresh. We have a huge amount of Koren and Asian folks who live in our area and the stores really keep their prices and stock up on many items that other areas may not. I love that we have such a mixing pot in our area! I can get the stuff for all the different things I like to cook at home and at decent prices.

 

[baymule]

A lot of stuff grows here all year around, or at least with a short dormant period in the winter. We live in a little town with not a lot of variety in the grocery stores. Sometimes we shop in Houston and talk about country bumpkin come to town! We marvel at all the diversity of foods. Houston has it's Chinatown with restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, and Harwin Street. Harwin Street is where you can buy stuff you didn't even know you wanted. I love shopping there! Then there is the Fiesta! grocery stores that cater to the Hispanic community and they have tons of good stuff. There is a strong Indian community and Muslim community also. Then there is just plain ol' grocery stores that make our 2 stores look like the backwater stores they are. It's a darn good thing I grow most of what we eat or we'd go broke in one trip to Houston! It says a lot when a trip to another grocery store is a highlight trip........

 

[Emerald]

A lot of stuff grows here all year around, or at least with a short dormant period in the winter. We live in a little town with not a lot of variety in the grocery stores. Sometimes we shop in Houston and talk about country bumpkin come to town! We marvel at all the diversity of foods. Houston has it's Chinatown with restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, and Harwin Street. Harwin Street is where you can buy stuff you didn't even know you wanted. I love shopping there! Then there is the Fiesta! grocery stores that cater to the Hispanic community and they have tons of good stuff. There is a strong Indian community and Muslim community also. Then there is just plain ol' grocery stores that make our 2 stores look like the backwater stores they are. It's a darn good thing I grow most of what we eat or we'd go broke in one trip to Houston! It says a lot when a trip to another grocery store is a highlight trip........

We have a huge community of Hispanic due to being in Fruit Country! I grew up picking apples and peaches and berries of all sorts with some of the migrant families children-I used to spend nights with their families too. Nellie had the best Gramma ever! She used to let us girls help roll out flour tortillas and squish the corn ones. Nellie hated to do the beans tho.. it was her job to pick over the beans for rocks or other stuff and so was happy to have me come over and we would sit there and pick thru enuf beans for a few days worth! (I do remember hearing Gramma laughing that we gossiped and chattered more than picking tho haha) I know that some people thought my mother was nuts for letting me hang out with the "apple pickers" but back in the 70s they had whole family groups and it was such a warm community. I hate that so many minority groups get such a bad rap or are stereo typed when most times, other than what they are eating, they are the same as everyone else.
Sure there are still a few things that I have to make the trip to Grand Rapids for such as Kombu and Bonito flakes and to get the best lentils for the best price I hit up the "spices of India" store. I may have to find out which Mercado is the best in GR as my favorite electric tortilla squisher/cooker stopped working and while I can order a new one(cast iron to boot) the shipping costs on that puppy are around $20!
I find that growing as much as possible for certain dishes is still the best way to go too. I spent way too much time working in restaurants and learning stuff that it is so hard to go back to just "out of the box" cooking that my mother did. I learned bagels in the breakfast shop that I worked in for 6 months(and the love of cream cheese and lox or nova lox on a pumpernickel bagel and blintz and the little potato pancakes that I am drawing a blank on the name) to the Italian place that I was at for a year before the building (strip mall) had a fire on the other end and they never found another place to open and the cooking that Luigi did.. and his wife was Cuban and she taught me how to make red beans and rice with stuffed squid and the little thimbles of hot sweet coffee(like crack that was) Luigi even let me make up a dish for a daily special that they liked so much they added to the menu! Sausage and roasted pepper stuffed shells!(snagged my hubby with that dish ) and later when I worked as a prep chef/lunch chef I worked with a couple in the kitchen from Haiti and got to spend time with them and their family! she was a true genius with fish of any type!
hehe.. to look at me you would think. hum.. little old white haired gramma lady who probably spent whole life living in the house she grew up in.. never knowing my wild culinary adventures and tastes.
Now we have been trying more of the greek and even muslim foods.. I found that while I love plain old hummus mixing and matching other stuff in that hummus due to my weird whims is so much fun!

 

[txcanoegirl]

I had a brain freeze. I don't have a camellia bush...I have a gardenia. Gardenia flowers are also used for tea. I haven't found enough solid references for the leaves to make a decision, even though I see indications it is used for tea, the same as the camellia.

This thread on the yaupon re-energized me into looking what I have here and can use for teas. I have numerous things growing that are listed for teas...I just need to try them out and see what I like. I know the mint is a winner...it just needs a kick with it. I wonder about combining it with the yaupon for the caffeine?

Jill

 

[Emerald]

I had a brain freeze. I don't have a camellia bush...I have a gardenia. Gardenia flowers are also used for tea. I haven't found enough solid references for the leaves to make a decision, even though I see indications it is used for tea, the same as the camellia.

This thread on the yaupon re-energized me into looking what I have here and can use for teas. I have numerous things growing that are listed for teas...I just need to try them out and see what I like. I know the mint is a winner...it just needs a kick with it. I wonder about combining it with the yaupon for the caffeine?

Jill

Oh yes after tasting the three types I was sent I started thinking about all the different things I grow could be mixed and matched for flavors.
My favorite morning tea has always been Earl Grey and there is a plant that is native here called monarda or Oswego(spelling) and they both taste very similar to Earl Grey (bergamont) I've grown the wild stuff and the fancier types like the big red one.. they are more prone to powdery mildew here and they are not super long lived for me but I think it is just where I had them and the fact that one the areas got over run by Colonel Crispy(a big ruffled spearmint that I got from a friend as a clipping and is now taking over parts of the back yard it was unnamed so that is his nickname haha)
Another plant I need to replace is the Korean licorice mint he lost the war with Colonel Crispy last year..
I also have a nice pot of lemon grass that I have been growing for a few years and every so often I pull a couple stalks and cook with them or dry them for tea.. now that would be a good replacement for lemon balm too.. and I think it would grow well outside for you too Txcanoegirl!
I've grown stevia ever summer for a while now too.. but only due to getting the plants for about a buck a plant small. that is another one that I just can not get to winter over properly. but I have gotten root cuttings almost all the way thru the winter!