Monday is Earth Day. This year, consider planting some herbs to make relaxing teas to honor the day.
You can grow many herbs that have wonderful healing properties, which are released when you use the leaves either dried or fresh to make tea. For most herbs, pouring boiling water over the leaves and allowing them to steep for five to 10 minutes will result in a tasty and healthful beverage.
Try growing these attractive plants to create a tasty tea party with healing benefits. Be advised, however, against consuming any herbal tea in large quantities without researching possible cautions or side effects.
Lemongrass can be started from a root cutting or purchased at a local nursery. It grows quickly, producing tall, grass-like stalks up to 3 feet high. Like many herb teas, lemongrass has a distinct fragrance that adds to its relaxing quality.
Lemon balm has a low-growth habit and leaves that look similar to mint. It can cover lots of ground in your garden. Often known as melissa, lemon balm leaves make a delicious tea known to reduce anxiety and help with sleep disorders, as well as calm indigestion.
Lemon verbena has an upright growth habit and can be easily propagated from cuttings. Tea made from its leaves is often used as a sedative. It also has a soothing effect on the digestive system and can be used to treat indigestion and other stomach maladies.
Try making a palliative and flavorful lemony tea by combining lemongrass, lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon zest into a yummy cuppa to serve either hot or iced.
All varieties of lavender and catnip can be grown to make relaxing teas. They can calm stress in the mind and body. Both are particularly good at treating a nervous stomach. Lavender plants of all kinds are a beautiful and fragrant addition to any garden.
Catnip, another mint family plant, grows in low mounds that can fill in a garden bed with soft green leaves. If you want the catnip for your tea instead of as an intoxicating treat for resident felines, you might want to plant it in a container away from the usual cat track.
If you really want a good night’s sleep, try steeping some dried or fresh passion fruit leaves and making a nighttime elixir. Adding lemon balm will amplify the relaxing properties; including mint or lavender can enhance the flavor.
To improve circulation and mental function, try rosemary tea, the “herb of remembrance.” The fresh leaves have a strong flavor that mixes well with less pungent herbs with similar properties like tulsi, or holy basil.
This sacred Indian herb has recently become popular worldwide. It is easy to grow in our warm, humid climate and is loaded with healing properties, as well as spiritual energy. Tulsi is a cherished plant in the Hindu religion, where it is attended to daily and worshiped in religious ceremonies. In ideal conditions, tulsi grows into a bushy shrub 3 or more feet high. As it matures, it puts out a lovely array of purple flower stalks that add to its beauty in the garden, as well as adding color and flavor to healing tulsi tea.
Another herb that is easily grown here and self-propagates often from fallen seeds is mullein. Well-known as a healing herb for respiratory ailments, its leaves have antimicrobial properties and are often used in teas to help the lungs deal with the irritants in vog. People with colds and coughs will often drink mullein tea since it is a mild expectorant. Its tall columnar growth habit and yellow flowers add interest to a garden.
Cranberry hibiscus can be grown for beauty and tea. The red leaves and gorgeous red flowers of this attractive shrub add color, flavor and nutrition to tea. The flowers and leaves have a tart lemony flavor and contain antioxidants and vitamin C. Combine this tea with a lemony herb mix and you’ll have pink lemon tea. It’s great hot or iced.
Don’t forget sweeteners. Both sugar cane and stevia grow well here and with little effort can add sweetness to your tea. Get your herbs started now and enjoy some delicious and healthy teas in a few months.
Tropical
gardening helpline
Marlis asks: I tasted the prize winning dessert entry at the recent Avocado Festival and loved it. It’s a delicious way to use avocados. Can you get the recipe?
Answer: The winning entry, avocado pie, was made by Maggie McDermott from Tropical Edibles Nursery. She got the recipe from her friend Pedro Contreras who has been a chef at several local restaurants.
She was delighted to win and happy to share her recipe.
Although you can buy premade graham cracker crust, McDermott prefers to work from scratch and use all organic ingredients. She starts by crushing graham crackers to a fine crumb. She mixes 2 cups of the crumbs with 6 tablespoons of melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar. She presses the crust into a pie pan and bakes it for 10 minutes. While it is cooling, she makes the avocado mix.
All of the pie filling ingredients are organic, as well. She uses two medium-size avocados and mashes them with 8 ounces of cream cheese. Using a mixer, she adds one can of sweetened condensed milk to the mash along with lime juice to taste. Mix these ingredients until they are fluffy, then pour them into the cooled crust. Refrigerate the pie for at least four hours before serving or freeze it for longer storage. The pie should be served very cold or partially frozen. For those with lots of avocados, this is a nice alternative to salads and guacamole.
Several other delicious entries won prizes at the festival. The best overall recipe prize went to an avocado truffle with a sweet green avocado cream wrapped in white chocolate by Terrilee Erickson. Robert Block’s “Blockamole” was also a prize winner. Brenda Cloutier won a prize with her chilled avocado and cucumber soup. The people’s choice award when to Renn Gilin’s avocado flan with Hamakua mushrooms. Start planning your winning recipes now for next year’s avocado recipe contest.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a local organic farmer, plant adviser and consultant.
Clarification
In the column last Sunday, updating information on the coffee berry borer, some omissions occurred and the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Extension agent in Kona, Andrea Kawabata, felt some clarification was needed. She identified the final speaker at the Kona Coffee Farmers Association meeting as Matthew Siderhurst from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The CBB Summit Committee mentioned in the column did not conduct studies but was made up of a group of researchers from PBARC and CTAHR, with representatives from HDOA, Industry, SHAC, CBB Task Force, KCC and KCFA. Together they collected information from Hawaii and beyond to prepare current integrated pest management strategies to help growers reduce and control coffee berry borer infestations. The compiled information will soon be released in a CBB IPM document, including an updated sampling protocol.
Kawabata also wanted to emphasize that cherries on the ground can harbor coffee berry borers. In moist areas with ground cover, some growers are finding that cherries are rotting and do not host many beetles. However, in dry areas, dropped cherries are known to host beetles. The best advice is to avoid dropping any cherry on the ground.
