Hot & Cold Brewing
I am no herbalist but I am a bit obsessed with making botanical beverages! I have used both hot and cold methods to achieve different flavors for my mocktails. I mainly aim to make tasty, refreshing drinks just for pleasure and hydration, but I am leaning more toward nourishing herbal infusions the more I get to know my favorite plants.
Getting to know your plants as in: foraging the right time of year for the best tasting, most nutritious stage. Becoming familiar with every stage of their cycle. Eating plants raw and cooked; whole, chopped, ground; fresh and dehydrated. If its a root, simmering it the correct amount of time, or dehydrating and brewing it later. Cooking florals and plants into syrups or baking. Brewing tea with dehydrated plant matter, a light infusion using fresh plant matter in water, or even using fresh matter or syrups in your ferments, etc.
I hope to point out the difference between making fun beverages with teas, floral syrups and edible plants, and a ‘nourishing herbal infusion’. Making nourishing herbal infusions require knowledge of the plants, their volatile oils and other compounds, using correct brew times, and being aware of any other complications that may affect you. It is herbalism. It is common for edible plants to have disclaimers for pregnant people and people on certain medications. You need to know your stuff!
COLD BREWING
An example of a cold brew is making a lemonade and then adding a fresh herb like lemon balm, and steeping that for about 24 hours for more layers of flavor. Another example is simply adding the petals of rose or lilac to water and steeping that on the fridge for about 24 hours. This can be the base for an amazing lemonade when paired with a syrup, or enjoyed on its own.
Hot Brewing
This is where you can get into really extracting those active plant constituents (making nourishing herbal infusions) or you can just literally make tea. Tea typically being a blend of herbs, dehydrated, brewed in small amounts, steeped in hot water for 5-15 minutes.
“You Made Broth”
This title is borrowed from April Graham’s Teas, Brews and Infusions book. This is her description of what you have when you put fresh plant matter in water and wait - whether it is hot or cold. She is an experienced herbalist so her goal is to extract nutrients and use the plant to its full healing potential, and she drinks it every day. Though she describes this method as a “weak broth”, this can be very pleasant if just choosing to drink this for flavour and water intake. Pineappleweed is a plant that tastes lovely as a weak broth (hot water poured on top and allowed to cool).
a NOURISHING INFUSION
I will slightly paraphrase April Graham when she explains a nourishing herbal infusion: A specific weight of dried plant matter, boiling water, cap, allow to set between 4-24 hours before straining. This long timeframe and water going from very hot to room temperature allow really high levels of nutrients and medicinal properties our of whatever herb we are working with. Folks mainly make these to drink, but we can also use them as ingredients using herbal creations that contain water, like lotions or creams. You can also use them to soak your hair, feet, fertilize plants.
TEA
When you are foraging to make teas, you are looking for plants with a strong scent to add depth to your blend. These plants are not high in nutrients but they are high in different volatile oils and other compounds. April uses Lavender as an example to watch out for in her book:
“She is extremely fragrant, and - while very healing in small amounts - if you made a nourishing herbal infusion out of her and drank it, you could really hurt yourself.”Again, use caution and get to know your plants.
I will leave you with a link to a really great resource for making wild soda - a free video tutorial by Jade Alicandro of Milk & Honey Herbs.
I recently tried her Elderflower Rose Wild Soda and loved the results. They have a naturally probiotic element, are slightly carbonated and so pleasant to sip on. Making it requires a lot of stirring and tasting, which I loved!
Jade gets more into hot and cold brewing methods, and how making a wild soda with tea cooled down (which significantly reduces wild yeasts but does not eliminate it, and you are still getting yeasts from your wild honey) is actually more nutritious and may offer a lot more for those who are looking to drink it for health purposes.
Enjoy !
