Butterfly Pea Flowers [Clitoria ternatea] provide gorgeous natural color, as well as many benefits for the mind and body. Add some natural Botanical Blue to your routine & brighten things up as we explore these amazing flowers & their benefits, & their uses.
They also contain catechins, which are said to be instrumental in burning belly fat, aiding weight loss as well as helping to control blood sugar. Drinking butterfly-pea flower tea is purported to rev up your metabolism, making the body burn more calories.
This makes the herb VERY popular for cocktails! As anyone who knows me would expect, I have had quite a lot of fun playing with their effects & use them frequently in the drinks I craft. Want to play with them yourself? We also offer individual herbs, including butterfly pea flowers, for sale bulk here in store & online. Organic Butterfly Pea Flowers, Hand Foraged
$3.95 - $12.95
Wild harvested & carefully dried to preserve the whole flower heads. Our butterfly pea flowers are collected by hand in Thailand by Supanij Farm. 100% organic & wildcrafted. Dried flowers can be used in tea, cordials, tinctures, & syrups, as well as in cooking & beauty products. Delightfully pH sensitive, on their own they provide a deep indigo blue color, add an acid [like lemon juice] & watch it turn a vibrant purple-fuchsia! Flavor is an earthy floral-green note. Sold by volume in 1 oz [about 5g] & 2 oz [10g] bags or 4 oz bail-jars that contain 3 ounces by volume [15g] of dried herbs.
More than just the sheer strangeness of the colors, remember you are getting the herbal benefits of the butterfly pea flowers. This Herbal Ally provides so many benefits for mind & body. It is definitely worth adding to your own tea selection or Herbal Apothecary.
I hope you enjoyed this look at these amazing flowers. Let me know how you like to use Butterfly Flowers & what color combo you create! Until next time--Stay safe & #StopAndEatTheFlowers
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Give a Moroccan, umami lift to your cheese & charcutierie boards! These preserved lemons are easy to make & will be ready in just 3 weeks---
Again, I like to buck tradition a bit & generally use Pink Himalayan Salt for mine, adding more unique notes as well as lovely health benefits. Lastly, it is important to be sure all of your fruit is completely submerged under lemon juice. Pickle stones are helpful for this. [seen in my pictures, they are simple, round glass weights] If fruit remains uncovered by the liquid, you run the chance of bacteria or mold occurring, which will ruin your batch. That is really all there is to it. One final note-- be sure to RINSE your lemon pieces as you use them! Rather obvious in hind-sight, the sheer amount of salt used to preserve the fruit will overwhelm & mask the flavors you are creating if used directly from the bottle! I find these lemons ready to eat after 3 weeks, but they will continue to develop flavor the longer they are left to pickle & will last rather indefinitely if they remain submerged & your jar is tucked into the back of your refrigerator.
Please let me know how yours come out & what you make with them-- I love to hear from you all! Wishing you all a lovely & safe Holiday Season! Until next time, take care & don’t forget to #StopAndEatTheFlowers
Delicious & just as immune-supportive as the Elderberry, Chokeberries are in season now & are fabulous! Join me as we discuss their growing habits, traditional uses, & I make a simple syrup & craft some delicious drinks with their bright, tart flavor---
Elderberry Brandy Cordial A quart sized Mason Jar 2 cups fresh elderberries [or 1/2 cup dried] Peel of an orange [organic preferred] 2 TBS rose hips [dried or fresh] 1” - 2” peeled ginger 1 or 2 cinammon sticks 2 TBS dried elderflowers [optional] 1 quart brandy 1 cup sugar or honey 1 cup water
Craft Your Own Amaro ~ Makes about 32 ounces ~ Takes at least 6 weeks ~A blend of herbs & spices including flowers, leaves, & barks, fresh or dried, Enough plant material to fill a quart-sized mason jar. ~5-8 sprigs of strong culinary herb [such as rosemary or thyme] ~Citrus Peels, grapefruit/orange/lemon or a combination equivalent to that of 2 oranges. ~Enough 80-proof neutral spirit to cover it,vodka is the easiest to source. If you have access to high proof neutral, you will get deeper flavor results. ~1 cup sugar [or sugar substitute] ~1 cup water
Slowly pour the plain vodka/alcohol over the herbs, filling the jar all the way to the very top to ensure all the materials are covered & nothing is sticking up above the surface. Put a piece of wax paper over the jar mouth & seal with a lid. Pop your jar away somewhere out of direct sunlight.
Again, how sweet you make it is up to the individual! I added all of my 1:1 syrup, knowing I had included many very bitter ingredients in my mix. Reseal up your jar & set it aside again to age with the sweetener added, at least another 2 weeks. During this time, the amaro will mellow & incorporate the sweet with the other extracted flavors. If you are impatient to taste your creation, remember some amaros are aged for a year or more at this point! You will be rewarded by a fuller, balanced flavor by waiting!
That is it for this post. PLEASE let me know what you get up to; I adore hearing from you all & trying your creations! I hope you enjoy the process here as well as your results!
Don’t forget to #StopAndEatTheFlowers With her striking purple stems & killer flavor, Chocolate Mint is one to grow. Join me as we discuss this beautiful mint cultivar & a bunch of options for using your harvest!
Before I begin, I would like to clearly state that Nature is powerful & is to be respected. One must be very clear of WHAT they are harvesting, HOW it was grown [near heavily trafficked roads? sprayed with pesticides?] & how they plan to USE it. Mushrooms are particularly complex & it is imperative that you are 1000% sure of an ID before doing ANYTHING with them. The information I am supplying here consists of my own experiences & the traditional uses of mushrooms/herbs & is for educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Cheers!
their layered colors resemble the setting sun. They are ‘varnished’ mushrooms, a term used to describe their dry but shiny surface. hemlock reishi's undersides are a beautiful white, but quickly discolor to brown when touched.
to receive all of the benefits they have to offer. Additionally, one can dry & powder the fruiting bodies, then create capsules or enjoy them in teas, ingesting the powder to receive the full benefits, much like with matcha one receives the entire tea leaf. Reishi mushrooms are considered to be one of the most potent medicinal mushrooms & many studies are ongoing into their properties. The Chinese refer to reishi as Ling Chi or the “Mushroom of Immortality” & many studies are currently underway further supporting its medicinal usage. Studies have shown reishi to have strong cancer fighting properties, with their active polysaccharides specifically having been shown to have anti-tumor benefits. Reishi specifically has been shown to promote the healing of wounds & boost growth of fibroblast cells, to have the ability to regulate sugar in the human body, & to work well as a natural antibiotic, even against heavy hitters such as Staph & Strep! Additionally, they work as strong adatogens in the body, helping to relieve anxiety & stress. As these studies document this mushroom's possible applications more & more thoroughly, it is no wonder demand for resishi tinctures & supplements has risen so dramatically. Particularly of interest are its cancer & diabetes treatment potentials. Learn more about reishi & cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center website. If you have located reishi growing & are harvesting them [and are 100% certain of your identification as stated earlier,] the simplest way to use them is to dry & powder them, then use them in teas. I am happy to provide deeper info on this process, as well as the double tincturing process, on an individual basis, personally one-on-one. I also have information on locally sourced, dry reishi powder. Please feel free to contact me for further information if you wish.
We also proudly offer Herbal Revolutions Mushroom & Roots Elixir, which contains many medicinal mushrooms including reishi, as well as their Chaga Mushroom Chai Tea Blend, for those looking for finished, ready-to-use products. Both products are amazing quality & help to support the mind & body in many ways. Mushrooms are truly fascinating. There is a deep well of information to learn, with new facts being uncovered constantly. They provide a large sense of unity for all of us with the powerful world of Nature around us. I invite each of you to dive into this pool of knowlegde, either through books or classes like Herbal Academy’s Mushroom Course. Take care, contact me with questions, & until next time -- Don’t forget to #StopAndEatTheFlowers |
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