Herbal syrup are one of our favorite herbal preparations, for medicinal and/or summertime beverages.  And they are simple to make at home!

Syrups can be made with honey or sugar, in more or less quantity, depending on how long you plan to store. The basic recipe is thus, and there are so many possibilities for flavor combinations so get creative!! Herbal Syrups can be used in spritzers, cocktails, and mocktails (about 1 oz. or so per glass) as well as taken by the spoonful or added to tea for specific health support. They can even be drizzled on various foods to happy effect.

Check out the recipe below:


🥄Simplified Herbal Syrup Recipe🥄

Ingredients:
- 1/2-1 cup herb
- 4 cups water
- 1-2 cups of honey or sugar (molasses is an iron rich choice)
- optional: vinegar or alcohol tinctures for extra preservation

Instructions:

• Bring water to a boil
• Simmer dense herbs (roots, berries, etc) on low, partially covered until your liquid reduces to half.
• Remove from heat and add your more fragile herbs (leaves, flowers, etc) to steep, covered at least 15min.
  • Note: If you are only using leaves and flowers, start with half the amount of water. Bring to a boil, turn off heat, and add herbs, cover, steep.
• Strain out the herbs and then return the tea to the pot.
• Depending on your tastes and needs you can add sugar or honey at a 1:1 or a 2:1 ratio (tea:sweetener). Turn burner on low and add honey or sugar to dissolve. If using honey, heat only to dissolve and turn off. You never want honey to boil or even simmer. If using sugar, you can let simmer and even reduce further from this point.
• You can add additional tinctures or vinegars for taste, medicinal action, and preservative action at this point.
• Pour into a clean, dry bottle and label. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Herb suggestions you may enjoy: mint, hibiscus, mugwort, anise hyssop, elderberry, hawthorn berry, rose, and there are so many more possibilities.

Want to learn more?  Check our self-paced online medicine-making course to learn 11 home remedies including herbal syrups.

Let us know if you have any questions and enjoy!

🥃🍵🌿🌺

Things have been really heating up!  It's time for herbal iced tea!

There a couple options for how to brew:  one simple thing you can do is just make your herbal infusions with cold water - for example, add 2 tablespoons or so of dried herb to a quart jar, add cold water, and let sit for 1+ hour, or all day, straining it out as you go. Some people put it in the sun to make "sun tea."

Or, just brew hot tea as you normally would, i.e. 1-3 teaspoons per cup, steep 10-20 min, then strain and add ice.  This will produce a stronger tasting iced tea.

Here are a few different recipes you could try to make one cup of tea (if making a quart, multiply everything by 4).

Citrusy-mint blend
The tart and sour flavor of hibiscus combines well with a light mint-y spearmint and a little sweetness from stevia.  Similar to our citrus bliss tea blend.

• 1 tsp. Spearmint
• 1/2 tsp. Hibiscus
• Pinch of stevia

Relaxing blend
The classic chamomile combines really nicely with cinnamon for a suprisingly apple-like taste (which is why we combined them for our "apple pie tea")

• 1 tsp. chamomile
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Uplifting blend
The uplifting lemon balm and linden blend with a minty spearmint, sweet licorice, and come together with a surprisingly refreshing hint of ginger.  Similar to our sunny day tea blend.
1/2 tsp. lemon balm
1/2 tsp. linden
1/4 tsp. spearmint
1/4 tsp. licorice
1/8 tsp. ginger

Enjoy! 🍹