Kitchen Diary: Hedgerow tea

Old recipes are sometimes filled with information that you have to decipher.

One of the older notes I have is a recipe for wartime "tea" or, more accurately, a way of making existing tea go further.  It's referred to as "hedgerow tea plants and equivalents" which roughly translated - after a little research - meant dock leaves and nettles.

Some parts of the country still used beech leaves as a tea (during the first and second world wars), although due to its relatively high tannin content wasn't too good for the tummy apparently.  Same for the roasted nuts of the same tree - as an alternative to coffee, and everyone (well almost) knows about chicory, still available as Camp coffee and still drank on cold winter nights in hot milk (sorry, is that just me then?) …

Anyway, if you ever fancy trying nettle tea, take a "leaf" from of our Moroccan friends and use similar quantities as with mint tea (for a relatively small pot, one teaspoon of green tea to a handful of fresh leaves).  That way the taste won't be too much of a shock to the system.  Add sugar to taste.  With nettle and dock tea, a very small amount of milk is added.  Alternatively, if you don't like the bitterness of green tea, use your regular brand of black tea, although you may want to watch how strong the tea actually becomes, otherwise you may not taste the difference at all.

Most culinary herbs make good raw (or unblended teas) but beware that some, and this includes sage, must not be taken by pregnant women.

Probably two of my favourite herbs to steep into a tea, is mixing mint and camomile (equal quantities) for an upset stomach, or even just to relax.  Somehow comforting after a stressful day.