How to Make Your Own Echinacea Tea

It's August already and that means fall is around the corner as well as the seasonal onslaught of colds and flu.  However, if you have this plant growing in your garden, you can make your own arsenal of flu-fighting goodness for pennies a cup!

Echinacea Purpurea is the above mentioned flower that is used for this medicinal AND delicious tea.  This North American native flower is wonderful to include in your garden for many reasons and you can read more about that here.  When I first began learning about herbs 20 years ago, this was one of my go-to plants for my family.
 

I first began using it primarily in conjunction with ear infections.  If our boys had an infection, I immediately put them on this tea to help fight it off and to boost their own immune system.  I would use my Garlic Oil Ear Remedy to get rid of the infection and used this as a "chaser" to keep the infection away.  Our boys began drinking this out of bottles and then sippy cups.  They loved it and it is still one of their favorite herbal teas to drink.

How to make this?  It's so simple if you have the plants.  If you don't, you could always buy the plant parts from a reputable company.  The roots of this plant have the strongest medicinal effect, but the leaves and flowers are medicinal too and mild enough for the little ones.  I don't want to sacrifice my plants for the roots, plus the work in digging them up, cleaning, drying and cutting them up is a lot of work.  I use raw garlic as the main antibiotic and anti-viral fighter and echinacea to build our immune system.

Locate your plants and find the topmost leaves that are free from brown spots, insect bites and anything else.  I always use the uppermost leaves as they are newer and less bitter.  Select flowers that are the newest blooms.  Cut the stem completely away.  Place in a dehydrator tray or even a cookie rack that has a grid pattern on it.  Put the cookie rack on a cookie sheet to give some air circulation between it.  I often just let the leaves air dry in a dark, fairly cool place. 

 You can use your dehydrator if you like or I've heard of using your car to dry your herbs as well because let's face it, if your car is outside, it gets to be an oven in there.  It's so easy to dry your own herbs that it's well worth the effort.

I based my recipe off of the original "Traditional Medicinals Echinacea Tea" by Rosemary Gladstar.  So, I also add spearmint and lemongrass to my echinacea.   I just so happen to grow a delicious spearmint, so I'll add this to my tray of leaves and flowers to dry.

You can dry the plant parts separately and mix them or dry them together and put them in a nice tin or glass jar when dry.  If the jar is clear, make sure to store in a dark place so the herbs don't lose their potency.

I buy lemongrass to add to the mix for flavor, however, I grow lemon balm so this would be a nice addition to the blend as well.  The main idea is to have more echinacea than the other herbs in order to get the most benefit.  I find the spearmint is just enough with a hint of lemongrass.  I found some lemongrass at an Asian market and will dry my own for the blend. 

Here's a basic recipe using dried plant parts:

Echinacea Tea
1 part echinacea parts, leaves, flowers, roots
1/4 part lemon grass
1/4 part spearmint leaves (or to taste)
Stevia leaves to taste

Mix and brew at the first sign of cold or flu.  Based on the Traditional Medicinal recipe.

There you have it.  Your own stash of Echinacea Tea from your own backyard to brew at the first sign of a sniffle during the dark days of winter.  I think you'll find yourself going back to this tea time and time again; even if you don't have a cold...blessings!

Do you grow and make your own teas?  Do you use Echinacea Tea?



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Saving Sage For Winter...

Right next to the place where I have a clothesline (free solar power!), I have an herb bed and one of the plants in it are my sage plants.  A hardy perennial, I've had these dependable plants for over 15 years.  So, considering their age, I was surprised to see how lush they were for early October. Seeing this, I knew I needed to bring some in to dry.  To be honest, I'm not very good about saving sage for winter use.  I am spoiled by its lush leaves and cold temp. hardiness and forget to put some by. Plus, I often will have useable sage leaves almost into Thanksgiving as it can withstand even some snow.  So, it's a great long season herb an indispensable  for the home landscape. I actually plant it for its flowers as well as for its use as an herb.  (The sage flowers are also edible as well.  You can use them to garnish salads or any dish for that matter.  They only bloom in the late spring.)

Beautiful sage flowers in the spring...

We had some friends over one time in the spring and we were looking at the sage flowers.  One of our friends asked me what the plant was and I told him "sage" and he was shocked.  He then asked, "Why do you need so much sage?  How much do you need for stuffing?"  Now it was my turn to be shocked because I answered, "Just look at how beautiful the flowers are, I grow them for flowers too!"  (I have a whole group of sage plants in a small front flower bed also.)  Herb lovers understand our unquenchable love and appreciation for the many "talents" of the herbal plant kingdom.  They are amazing, hardy, beautiful AND you can eat them...okay, I'm off my soap box. :)

 Back to harvesting...herbs are best harvested right before flowering.  During and after flowering, the plants put all their energy into flower and seed production, so the leaves aren't really the best flavored.  I trim off all the seed heads after blooming so the plants can regenerate and put on another fresh flush of leaves.  And this year was exceptional.  Our May and June were very dry, but mid-July brought back bi-weekly to weekly rains that have extended all through late summer and early fall.  This means my sage is beautiful and ready for harvest.  I would rather harvest late in the season because I won't break into the dry leaves until late November/December.  This way, the dried leaves don't sit on the shelf for as long. 

 Harvesting?  Remember, the upper leaves are the best.  They are tender, insect-free, and the best tasting.  And me having so many plants means I have a lot of sage tops to pick from.  This also keeps the plants bushy and hardy.  

 This was early on in the harvest, I actually filled my dehydrator to the max with these beautiful leaves.  No dehydrator?  No problem.  Bundle the sage with a rubber band and hang upside down in a dry warm place.  Bothered by dust?  Put them in a paper bag upside down, wrap the rubber band around the bottom of the stems and top of the paper bag and hang up to dry.  You may want to poke a few air holes to help with ventilation.  We live by a lake and it seems to be more humid in our house.  So, I invested in a really nice dehydrator.  Looking to save $$?  Check out your Goodwill stores or yard sales, one of my first dehydrators came from there...$3! If it's warm in your area when you are drying herbs, then put them on a ventilated tray/screen and place in your car in the back window.  Instant dry herbs.  My friend did this and it worked out beautifully.  

 Sage leaves have a velvety, almost papery texture, so they dry well and turn a beautiful shade of gray.  I like to store my sage leaves whole or as whole as possible.  I just take out a few as needed and powder them in my hands before using...also known as "rubbed sage."  

 They are great in soups, chicken and dumplings, any chicken marinade or meal and I use them in my Italian seasoning blend.  Overall, a great all purpose herb and one you'll find yourself running out of by winter's end.  Store in an airtight container that is not transparent or I put mine in glass jars but store them in a locker of their own that keeps them quite out of the light.  They have a long shelf life, one year is recommended, as long as they stay dry..  Try sage butter by sauteing (preferably fresh) leaves in some melted butter in a skillet, remove and pour butter over pasta and whatever else you would like to add.  Our favorite use is in our endless pots of chicken noodle soup.  Our guy's favorite soup, I make lots of pots and sage is central to the tasty broth.

Well, there ya go...Sage is saved and ready for winter!  However, I will be gathering LOTS of fresh leaves while this weather stays mild.  Maybe fresh sage for Thanksgiving this year...?!
Blessings!

What's your favorite way to use sage?

For more herb drying info, check out my post;  Ode to Drying Oregano.

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