As some of you may know, I'm doing a series of posts on edible and medicinal wild plants . In this topic, you may see many references to teas, infusions, and decoctions. What exactly are these? Well, I thought that question is important enough to warrant a separate topic.

I suspect everyone already knows what a tea is. Fresh or dried leaves and/or flowers are chopped up and steeped in water just off the boil for 5 or 10 minutes or so, and sweetened to taste.

Unfortunately, since wild plants don't usually come in convenient tea bags, you have to find a way to strain the tea through some sort of colander, screen, or cloth before you drink it. This was how it was done for thousands of years. But it's a whole lot easier if you use something like a tea ball.

I've used this since before some of you were born:



It's pretty much self-explanatory. The tea materials are place in the metal ball, and it's steeped in the water just like a commercial tea bag. There are several different contraptions like this one, all of which seem to be quite a bit more expensive that they ought to be. If you can't find one in your grocery store or health food store, do a search for "tea ball."

(Hint: Search Amazon from this website , and support a couple Patriots. Strat and Angela are good people.)

Everyone's taste buds are different, and tastes can be quite different from species to species, and even from plant to plant. But there's no law that says you can't add a little sweetener, cream, or creamer to your tea. In the case of medicinal teas, this is sometimes a requirement, just to get it down.

Suppose you really like mint tea, but you want a tea made from pine needles for the vitamin C? Well, use both! Mixing and matching teas is part of the fun of wild teas!

Very few teas are available fresh year round. Fortunately, most teas can be dried. However, this is a little tricky. Drying them in an oven or dehydrator will evaporate away the essential and volatile oils, which is usually where the good stuff is. If you really, really have to dry them in an oven or dehydrator, do it at the lowest temperature possible, and prepare to be disappointed with the results. Try it with a small batch at first, to see if it works.

Traditionally, teas and herbs were dried by bundling them up and hanging them from a ceiling or rafter. But the method I use is to spread them out between sheets of newspaper. The paper acts to absorb the moisture, leaving the oils intact.

For bulkier items like twigs, roots, or bark, try spreading them out on a window screen or something, suspended off the ground.

An infusion is pretty much the same thing as a tea. Usually, the terms are interchangeable. However, some infusions must be steeped a little longer. I've heard of some people who steep their medicinal infusions for hours.

A decoction is usually used for thicker, tougher materials like twigs, roots, or bark. Simmer the materials in water over low heat, preferably in a nonmetal pot, for about 20 minutes or so.

And that, folks, is about everything I know about teas, infusions, and decoctions. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Your on the right path there Airforce, as the healthcare system continues to spiral downward, having to sit for hours in the emergency room because no doctors are taking new medicade patients for some little things that could be remedied naturally, not be able to afford the high cost of commercial medication, or even for patriots with limited medical supplies for common ailments. Learning how to heal yourself is a very valuable skill indeed.

We do much the same here, I'm even controlling my pre-hypertension blood pressure naturally by changing my diet a little ,drinking up to two-gallons of water a day along with some minerals and herbs added to it, chewing up to half a clove of raw garlic a day and having to give up coffee for awhile in lue of (gag ) de-caffinated green tea.
Know what, it's working !

Keep up the good work.