Herbal Drinks
Here you will find many different kinds off herbal drinks. The next time you have a party or gathering add an herbal drink to your menu. Many of these drinks can be served warm or chilled. The Earth provides us with flowers, leaves, berries roots and seeds that are high in vitamins and minerals and help us feel good. It seems that we have forgotten these gifts as we slug down high sugar drinks and carbonated sodas that leech important minerals such as magnesium from the body.
The average American teenage male drinks almost 700 sodas a year with each soda containing the equivalent of several teaspoons of sugar. Most people know that sodas are unhealthy but during the warmer and more active summer season, drinking a couple sodas a day is easy to do. There is no nutritional value in a soda and the sugar, carbon, and coloring agents are just one more thing that the body has to de-toxify from our system. There are several herbal soda products available now but most of them still contain a lot of sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
Read the labels on your drinks and you will be amazed at the sugar and chemical content. With a little education and change of habit we can begin drinking things that taste good and are good for us!
Herbal drinks taste good, are good for you, and within a year of making your own drinks, you will have saved enough money to buy yourself a vacation plane ticket! Do your body and your pocketbook a favor, start creating your own healthy herbal drinks.
Herbal Fruity Wine Punch
1 bottle of white, rose, or blush wine
1 quart of pink lemonade
1 cup rose water
1 cup lemon balm tea
2 cups fresh or frozen berries
1 teaspoon cardamom pods
Mix everything together and let sit for several hours before serving chilled
Lavender Lemonade
2 quarts lavender tea
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice or one can of frozen lemonade concentrate
½ cup honey
Making the lavender tea:
8 tablespoons fresh or dried lavender
2 quarts water
Put lavender and water into pot with the lid on and bring to a boil. Once it has boiled, turn off the heat and let sit for one half hour. Strain the lavender from the water and you now have a lavender tea to be used as the base for your lavender lemonade
Elder Flower Delight
4 cups water
3 tablespoons elder flowers
1 tablespoon spearmint
1 tablespoon rose petals
½ cup rose water
½ cup fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
Maple syrup to taste (about 3 tablespoons is good)
The herbs to make this tea can be either fresh or dried. Put water and herbs into a pot with the lid on and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn off the heat and let sit for one half hour. Strain the herbs out.
Add maple syrup, rose water and fresh squeezed lemon or lime as directed or change the proportions to fit your taste buds!
Herbal Chai
10 cups water
2 tablespoons orange peel
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon cardamom
1 tablespoons fennel
1 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon black pepper
Put water and herbs into a large pot. Turn on the lowest heat setting on the stove with the lid on. Simmer for fifteen minutes, turn off the heat and let everything cool down for one half hour.
Strain out the herbs and add milk and honey to taste. Drink cool or re-heat. This is a great morning drink we triple this batch and serve it at parties
Winter Mulled Cider
1 gallon organic apple cider
5 cinnamon sticks
5 astragalus sticks
15 all spice pods
15 cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Put everything into a large pot and turn on the lowest heat setting for ½ hour then turn off the heat. It is now ready to drink! You can also keep the cider on the lowest stove setting to keep it warm during a party.
Rooty Winter Brew
2 parts yellow dock root
1 part sassafras root
1 part sarsaparilla root
¼ part ginger root
Infuse and decoct to ½ of original volume and add ¼ part molasses and ¼ part honey (like making a syrup) then add seltzer water to taste
Digest the Holidays Madeira wine
1 bottle of Madeira wine
1 sprig each of: wormwood, rosemary, sage
A pinch each of: nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon
A small handful of raisins
Reseal the bottle and let sit for about a week and then strain everything out
Rosemary Ginger ale
1 quart rosemary tea
1/4 cup fresh ginger juice (Put fresh ginger root through a champion juicer)
3 tablespoons honey
Holiday Cognac
1 part lavender
1 part peppermint
1 part spearmint
4 parts frozen fruit (any kind of berry is good)
Steep herbs and fruit in cognac for one month and strain them out before drinking
Ginger Cardamom Digestive Cordial
2 cups brandy
2 tablespoons cardamom
2 tablespoons ginger
Let steep for two weeks and strain herbs out
Sip in a cordial glass before meals to enhance digestion