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aisling-saoirse · 5 days

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Happy Earth Day and Passover everyone!

Today I'm going to give you an easy tea recipe, from a family of trees that's deeply important to my family and many other Irish people: The Hawthorn

I'll cover the cultural significance more in a plant profile post in the coming weeks (when I can actually find a Hawthorn with spikes, cities don't have 'em).

The Hawthorn, aka Whitethorn or May flower, (flowers literally called: bán na Bealtaine or white of may in Gaelic) are short/sometimes shrubby trees usually grown wild in hedgerows. Many legends conflate the scent of the flowers to that of death...which isn't really true its more like a soft Bradford-pear scent...the tea's flavor is actually very light and earthy, reminiscent of nettle.

Don't let my description scare you, please follow my lead. Hawthorn blossoms and the non-fruit portions of the tree are only palatable early in spring, for this tea only take young leaves and flowers, one cluster myself, Wash this and boil it in hot water for 10 minutes. Be warned this may have a negative interaction with heart medicine if consumed in large quantities, Hawthorns have some research which shows the possibility of lowering blood pressure.

Recipe:

6-7 Hawthorn flowers and young green leaves taken in early spring, usually late april-may in europe, and the northern areas of North America

Wash thoroughly of any contaiminants that may have collected through the day

Place I'm boiling water for 10-15 minutes until green

Enjoy, let me know if you like it!

#hawthorn #tea #forage recipes

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aisling-saoirse · 12 days

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Sassafras Bloom, Philadelphia, PA - April 15th 2024

#nature #photographers on tumblr #original photography #sassafras #trees #yellow flowers #spring #Pennsylvania

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aisling-saoirse · 14 days

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Forage Recipes: Magnolia Petal Tea

Those entering spring may have noticed the soft pink magnolia flowers beginning to unfurl, less people known that these flowers are edible in quite a few ways. I was happy to see foragers here break into magnolia flowers for recipes, there is a very long history regarding these flowers in chinese medicines. There are a lot of excellent recipes which are more complex (pickled magnolia being a popular one right now) so I'm giving y'all a very easy tea recipe.

As a kid I used to climb our magnolia tree and take a bite of the petals (only to spit them out because my mom would glare me down). Little did I know that fresh magnolia petals are great salad additions, so I could have eaten them straight from the tree (no thanks to mom).

Anyway...there's quite a few native magnolia species in the United States, I will only recommend you use one of the asian cultivars which I have faith in edibility and consistent flavor, so for this I used Saucer Magnolia - Magnolia x soulangeana.

When you take a petal off a Magnolia they tend to bruise easily and wilt, it's best to take an unopened flower and one which is outside of its winter bud (See above). You can use all parts of the flower minus the hairy bud and stem, I gently washed petals as I pulled them. The unopened buds smell faint but lovely, this flavor will transfer into your tea. Just place in hot water for 10ish minutes and remove petals to drink. The flavor is a light ginger-ginseng taste which I would place in the higher tiers of my wild tea journey. So be mindful of where you grab yours from and happy hunting!

Recipe:

Ingredients: 1 unopened undamaged magnolia flower,

1. Pick apart petals lightly washed and bud removed

2. Place in cup of hot water brew for 10 minutes

3. Remove petals and enjoy

#forage tea #garden edibles #magnolia #saucer magnolia #forage recipe

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aisling-saoirse · 15 days

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