herbal infusions
Herbal infusions are the best way, in my opinion, to ~get into herbs~ and offer yourself their nourishing and energetic support with a tasty, mineral rich, and super easy preparation to add to your weekly routine. An infusion is a really strong tea, and a great way to consume many nutritive, mood boosting, and immune supporting herbs like lemon balm, echinacea, nettles, and rose, just to name a few!
The most often recommended proportions for an herbal infusion is 1oz dry herb to 1 quart water. I’m intense, have so many herbs stockpiled, and prefer my infusions to be opaque and powerful and able make up for any shitty nutrition decisions I make that week (like eating a 1 lb bag of gummy bears in 3 days, something I do not infrequently) so I brew very strong infusions for myself. One ½ gallon lasts me about 5 days; longer if I dilute it when I drink it.
My general recipe is:
2 parts nourishing herb such as nettle or oatstraw
1 part sunny lymphatic like calendula, chickweed, or violet
1 part tasty aromatic medicinal that makes me want to be a nectar-drunk bee, like anise hyssop, tulsi, or bee balm
1 part something I think I really need that week, like echinacea if I feel a cold coming on, or lemon balm to keep my spirits up, or rose to keep my heart soft, or raspberry leaf the last 2 weeks of my cycle, or goldenrod if my allergies are bad
A pinch of something that I want to consume energetically, like mugwort or motherwort, but don’t want the full strength or bitter flavor of in my infusion
An example recipe with actual measurements:
½ gallon of water
1 cup dried nettles
½ cup dried calendula flowers
½ cup dried anise hyssop
½ cup dried lemon balm
Big pinch dried mugwort
Boil the water in a big pot or kettle and either add the herbs to the pot, or pour over the herbs in a half gallon mason jar. Cover and let infuse for at least 4 hours, but I recommend more like 8 hours or overnight!
Strain when it’s cool into quart jars for storage into the fridge. Really squeeze the crap out of the herbs while straining so you get every last drop of infusion! You can also re-infuse these herbs for a lighter tea to drink hot. Spread the spent herbs in your garden, add to a bath, or compost them, please!
When you’re ready to drink your infusion, you can drink it cold straight from the fridge, dilute with boiling water to make it warm and less intense, or warm it very gently in a pot on the stove. Feel free to sweeten with honey if you like.
My mom always says “this would be a great popsicle” when she tries my infusions, so you could do that as a cooling & nourishing treat in hot weather (it will be here so soon).
