Urban Herbs #7 - Rose Buds

My Urban Herb series is a collection of posts describing my experiences infusing and drinking plants that are growing around my house. Today I'm featuring rose buds, an herb that some sources say may aid digestion and relaxation, and may contain a fair amount of vitamin C. I have tasted several rose bud infusions from China and found them to be very pleasant but this will be my first time drinking local rose buds.

I have an English rose bush in the front yard that is at least 10 years old. It is very productive and flowers several times a year. Its buds are plump and pink and they open into pretty little white roses. with wonderful aroma. 

For this tasting I picked ~20 buds and let them dry on a windowsill for a week. I steeped them for five minutes in six ounces of boiling spring water.

The resulting brew had a clear yellow-pink color liquor. The smell was a little bit rosy but also buttery and fishy. I took a few sips. Yuck. This is just awful. The flavor is stale, earthy, fishy, and bitter.

Maybe it was the particular rose varietal or maybe they would have tasted better if I'd infused them right after plucking? Who knows? I may do some more experiments someday but this first attempt has put me off home-grown rose buds for the time being.

Urban Herbs #6 - Plantain

It's been too long since I steeped anything in my yard as part of my Urban Herbs series, and for some reason plantain keeps popping up on my radar lately as a healthy herbal tea to try. I first heard about infusing plantain leaves from a post on my friend Nicole's wonderful blog and since then I've seen a few other references to steeping this wild green. Today I went outside to forage some plantain to taste for the very first time.

Like most plants there are many different varieties of plantain but it's quite easy to find this type, plantago major, competing with the grass, moss and clover that makes up a typical Seattle lawn.

My Backyard Plantain:

Most of the references I've seen online for preparing plantain tea call for dried, chopped leaves. Instead, I chose to take ten fresh leaves, muddle them in a glass measuring cup, and then steep them for ten minutes with boiling water.

The Ten Leaves:

The Steeping:

The resulting liquor was a pale, watery, greenish-yellow color. It smelled like a green banana and edamame. The flavor was mild, grassy, and a tiny bit floral. It was astringent like a persimmon though not nearly as intense. Still, I could feel a "fuzzy buzzy" sensation on my lips and tongue. Not too bad... I'd call this experiment a success but next time I'll try drying and chopping the leaves before I brew them.

Urban Herbs #5 - Snowy Sage

We expect to get 5 to 9 inches of snow in Seattle today (right now we're at about four inches) and around these parts, even 1 or 2 inches is enough to stop school and work. So that means today is a snow day!

After some fun time spent sledding, making snow angels, and knocking the snow off of my tea bushes, I felt like sipping something a little different. I think an infusion of sage leaves will be just the thing.

People have been using sage for culinary and medicinal purposes for well over a thousand years. It is a popular remedy for many different ailments such as digestive problems and sore throats. We have a hearty bush growing in our front yard.

Sage green leaves in front of my sage green house.

I harvested about 20 of the fuzzy fragrant leaves and clicked on my electric kettle.

My daughter helped me to muddle the leaves. This step breaks up the tough leaves which allows a lot more flavor to be extracted during the infusion. I've been finding this is a "must do" before steeping freshly picked herbs from in or around my yard.

I steeped it for five minutes with boiling water and it was so good. Of all my five Urban Herb experiments this was the biggest success. It had a wonderful savory, smokey, peppery, earthy, sage flavor that made my mouth and throat feel great and lingered pleasantly for hours. I will certainly be infusing this herb again!

Urban Herbs #4 - Blackberry Leaf

My Urban Herbs series is monthly chronicle of my continued quest to taste an infusion of every nontoxic plant I can find growing around my house. In this month's installment I've selected blackberry leaves.

These leaves were picked from a particularly wild corner of my backyard. I took care to select smaller, more tender leaves and not to poke myself on the wicked thorns. It is very important with all urban foraging to be sure you're harvesting in areas without any pollution. Lucky for me, Seattle is filled with such places.

Blackberry bushes can be found all over the northwest and in the late summer I certainly eat my fair share of their ripe sweet berries. I've never tried infusing blackberry leaves before but I've recently learned that many people do, and that certain medicinal effects are attributed to the beverage. Some sources suggest the infusion is a good source of vitamins C and E, good for fighting colds and flu and for relieving sore throats.

I chopped up eleven fresh leaves of varying size and steeped them for 10 minutes in ~6 ounce of boiling hot water.

The resulting brew was light yellow and had a delicate grassy, citrus aroma. The flavor of the infusion was similar. It yielded wild weed and grass-like notes with soft peaks of citrus peel and tart blackberry flavors. It was a little tannic but not unpleasant. I think if I were to drink this herb again I would try picking more leaves, drying them, crumbling them up and make it a bit stronger.

Urban Herbs #3 - Lemon Balm

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is all over the place here in Seattle and we can always find a few of these shrubs growing around our yard. My kids like to nibble the leaves. I'll sometimes nibble them too, but more often I'll just pick a few, rub them between my fingers and smell their nice lemony aroma. Until today I've never tried drinking a plain infusion of lemon balm (though I'm sure I have had them before in blended herbal beverages).

Lemon balm tea is considered a healthy infusion for colds and flu as well as a calming and soothing beverage. It makes a nice addition to aromatic and medicinal herb gardens and has the added benefit of attracting beneficial bees who help to pollinate nearby plants.

I picked ~10 fresh tender leaves and minced them up with a knife. I steeped them for 5 minutes using 5 ounces of boiling hot water. The resulting infusion had a pleasant grass and citrus aroma and a pale watery yellow-green color.

In my opinion it tastes great. Like most herbal infusions, lemon balm is probably hard to over steep. Next time I going to use more leaf and a longer steep time. The flavor was not at all bitter and was too weak to be perceived as tart. I was reminded of lemon juice, lemon peel, rose hips and meadow flowers. It left with a nice aftertaste and feeling in my throat. I can easily see myself drinking this infusion often throughout the winter and sharing it with my two young children.

Urban Herb #2 - Fennel Seed

All over the garden plants are going to seed. One of them happens to be this large, healthy fennel plant by my front door.

The Plant.

The Seeds.

I've always liked fennel seeds but I never thought about drinking them. In fact I used to wonder why, back when I worked at Teacup, random people would occasionally ask me if we sold "fennel seed tea." We didn't, so I would redirect them to a health food store or other local apothecary.

I did a little research and found out that fennel seed is considered a "carminative," which according to wikipedia is "a herb or preparation that either prevents formation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract or facilitates the expulsion of said gas, thereby combating flatulence." (As an adult-vegan-male I found this tidbit particularly interesting.)

Because of all this I've decided to feature fennel seed tea as this month's "Urban Herb."

I picked off a few umbels of fresh young seeds and put them in a small gaiwan. I bruised them slightly with my fingers and then poured in boiling water. I let them steep for five minutes.

Seconds before the steep.

The resulting herbal infusion was a light pale yellow color with an intense fennel aroma. I sipped it and found it to be quite pleasant. It was surprisingly mellow in my mouth, I might even say that it was a little bit too weak for me. It had a licorice-like sweetness and vibrant mouth-feel. It was very one dimensional but I'd say if you're into this particular flavor you'd probably really enjoy it.

... and as for the infusion's carminative effect? Let's just say I haven't farted in a week and I'm now beginning to worry!

Ha... just kidding... I'm really not sure if it did anything at all.

Urban Herb #1 - Wild Chamomile

This is the alley behind my house.

It is filled with many urban herbs. One of which is wild chamomile (aka pineappleweed).

As it turns out this useful and tasty plant can be found all over Washington, especially in sandy soil near trails and paths. I've gotten into the habit of picking a little flower and crushing it between my fingers because it really smells amazing.

Wikipedia says: "The young flower heads can be used to make tea by steeping a handful of the flowers in hot water for ten minutes and then straining."
OK. I can try that.

I used about one teaspoon of flowers in a half full gaiwan with boiling water. After a ten minute infusion the liquor is a pale yellowish-green color.

The smell is lovely in my opinion. It's like the freshest chamomile aroma I've ever smelled with a twist of ripe pineapple juice. The flavor is sweet, soothing and floral like any great chamomile flower infusion would be.

If you dig chamomile tea then you would probably like this.

It's very relaxing.

[Yawn]

I am starting to feel pretty sleepy.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz