Tuesday, September 29, 2009

my new favorite tea - holy basil/thai basil blend



This was a decent sized basil harvest, the result of pruning my garden where the dozen variety of basil plants had grown to a few feet high. I picked mostly holy basil (tulsi) and some Thai basil, which has a slight licorice taste. I dried the branches, lying them flat on a blanket. I gave the leaves about an hour in sunlight, to have the plants soak in all of that light. Then I let them dry in the open air.
Once dried I plucked the leaves and cut them into smaller pieces. I saved a bunch for cooking, and still have several cups left. So I am using the leaf blend (because I accidentally got the two basils mixed up) for tea. I am drinking it iced with a little agave nectar, as it is hot here this time of year. Delicious! I just put the dried loose leaves right into a cup of water, let them soak and steep a bit, and I eat the leaves as I drink the tea.
Of course a more civilized person would use a strainer, but I love the taste of the wet, chewy leaves.

2 comments:

Cate said...

yum. i agree about leaving the leaves, but i'm pretty sure that i'd strain if there were guests coming over.

thank you for the comment on my blog. so sweet to discover yours!

how lucky that you have such a beautiful abundance where you are. i heart upstate.

coco said...

i love your garden post.
I have lots of basil growing in my garden too, it gives me good idea of what to do with them, thanks, T.