Lemon Verbena Tea
First the lemon verbena grew into a great big bush in the summer. It lives in a half-wine barrel along my front pathway which is fairly protected from the frost. Lemon verbena is a bit fragile and doesn't cope well with hard frost. Then I dried it for a month or so in my garden shed. Then I put it in a box in my front porch in a giant bunch where it greeted visitors for another three months.
The Girl has been visiting for a week during her holidays so one night we sat at the table in front of the fire and stripped all the leaves from the verbena. The age-old women's tradition of talking and working lives on in our dining room.
And when the working is finished we continue the talking, this time with added lemon verbena tea. We tried it with sugar and without, and decided that without is preferable.
This is my picnic tea tin. It is an old wedding cake slice tin from my granny. Apparently, once upon a time, brides would send slices of wedding cake in small tins to friends and relatives who couldn't make it to the wedding. This is a magnificent idea, and would make it very tempting not to go to the wedding. I mean, wedding cake - that's the best bit of the wedding. This way you would get the cake without having to dress up or travel interstate and sleep on your cousin's lounge room floor.
Anyway, small tin, lemon verbena tea. Hot water. Bliss.
Comments
Patricia/USA
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sourdough-rosemary-potato-bread-140032?ftab=reviews
Anna, I'm wondering if the world might be a better place if certain world leaders gave up their day jobs and collected pretty tins instead?? The story attached to your favourite tin is just lovely. It sounds like your dad had a real trust in your mum to handle the money. It is the opposite of that other common story of that era - the man who would come home and begrudgingly hand over the housekeeping money to his wife, and keep all the rest..
Fran, absolutely, come spring I will be able to provide you with dozens of lemon verbena cuttings:) Thanks for that recipe, I'll give it a go. Your loaves looked absolutely magnificent!
Another vote for fresh lemon balm tea here too.
Patricia/USA
Your lemon verbena is really impressive looking - one might even use the word "triffid" to describe its growth. Did the drying leaves produce much fragrance when brushed against? Yes, weddings in distant locales are not to my liking at all. I recently failed to attend an old friends birthday party in Perth (in WA not Tasmania! There was a nice old historic mansion in the town of Perth down your way) of all places. Honestly, two hours by car is a long way away to my mind. Back in the day the stories were all about Twenty League boots, magic flying carpets, or some such thing. The weather looks set to turn feral over the next few days. I wouldn't want to be on the ferry in such conditions. Stay safe and batten down the hatches.
Chris
Linda in NZ
Chris, yes, the lemon verbena is still very strong smelling after being dried for months. It's almost overpowering when you open up the jar!
Weddings in far away locations seem to be the thing.. wedding in Bali? Why not? Remember the days when you got married at the local church and if you were very posh, had a reception at the tennis club? If not posh, a marquee on the lawn at Aunty Beryl's with the groom's cousin doing the catering, and always the bride's mother knew someone who did cake decorating as a hobby..
Linda, to avoid that musty smell in your summer shoes at the end of winter? Brilliant! I am going to do that with those little organza party favour bags that I seem to have a collection of in a drawer somewhere..
Hazel, I have found that lots of water in summer is good, outside it gets a lot of water in the winter. The other problem is little mites on the underside of the leaves in summer, which I kill off by hosing under the leaves. And pruning in summer to help it bush out instead of growing long and leggy. It loves pruning, which is brilliant for tea-making! My builder has a cold so I fed him lots of lemon verbena tea today. Hopefully he will be cured and back tomorrow!