Blue Cornflower Herbal Infusion
The Flower of Hope
Herbal infusion are similar to the steeped tea we know and love. The main differences are temperature and steeping time. An herbal infusion is made by placing loose leaf herbs into room temperature water and left to sit for 6-12 hours. Similar to a sun tea process, where you allow the warmth of the sun to heat your beverage.
I personally choose herbal concoctions because I prefer to drink room temperature beverages. Ever since I was young, I would let it hot tea sit until it came down to room temperature. In Ayurvedic practices, one should only consume room temperature to warm liquids. This helps to keep the agni (or fire) within your digestion strong. When we consume cold liquids it dampens the acidity of our stomach acid, making it more difficult to break down food. It is also energetically taxing on our bodies, because we have to spend time heating up the liquid before it can be utilized.
Another main difference between hot steeped tea and herbal infusions is the potency of the herbs! The longer the herbs are steeped, the more beneficial nutrients they release. The nutritional quality of what we ingest is so important, and in a world of fast food, pre-packaged meals and depleted soil, adding in easy elements like this can really make a difference!
Let’s consider Blue Cornflower for our first herbal infusion:
Blue Cornflower is a natural mood lifter, soothing anxiety, depression and stress. It is an antioxidant and antibiotic, aiding in immunity and reducing fevers. It also supports healthy eyes, kidneys, digestion, and menstruation. It’s blue color is also used as a dye for many teas and natural food colorings.
Try it at home:
Quart jar with lid, filled with room temperature filtered spring water
2 tbsp freshly dried Blue Cornflower petals
Loose leaf tea bag, cheesecloth or fine mesh sieve
If you are using a loose leaf tea bag, place your petals inside and seal. Otherwise (this is how I do it), add your petals directly into the water, close your lid and shake. Let the herbal infusion steep for 6-12 hours. You can make sun tea or moon tea! For sun tea, place your jar in direct sunlight. For moon tea, let your tea steep overnight in the light/energy of the moon.
To drink, either remove tea bag or strain your tea using a cheese cloth or fine mesh sieve. Enjoy your tea at room temperature within 24 hours, or keep refrigerated for up to 3 days, but remember the benefits of drinking room temperature water!
Try herbs one at a time and see what benefits or effects you notice! You can easily find organic, freshly dried Blue Cornflower at a local apothecary, CoOp, health food store, or even online.
Let me know if you try this recipe for herbal infusions!
Until next time, Tess