Botanical Recipe • California "Woolly Blue Curls" Tea
Healing beauty is for all the senses.
Sipping on fragrant herbal teas is a sensory scented experience, an immersion of taste, scent, and visuals as aromas are released as the phytochemicals and minerals, are infused into hot water.
Soothing to drink and inhale and nourishing on a cellular level.
Ever since I started my practice into healing over 4 decades ago, I have always made herbal teas and infusions as part of my day-to-day routine. I find them so soothing and nourishing. Homemade herbal teas are a delightful way to deepen my connection with the healing power of the plants I use - beyond their uses in my botanical perfumery - especially those local to my area. I find that the plants show up and make themselves known when I am quiet, giving thanks, and paying attention.
This is the story of how I discovered the Woolly Blue Curls, a magical love at first sight, as well as Lemon BALM, River Mint, (more on that in a later post ) Wild Thyme, and all the delicious Wild Sages growing near me,
I hope one day we’ll share teas and tales together, till then, please enjoy my take on the power of healing plants and the recipe to follow.
- Leanne Hirsh
The Story: Love at first sight (or smell?)...
When I first met the magic that is the Woolly Blue Curls, I was enchanted by its vibrancy and presence. The flowers are deep purple-blue and the scent is an almost candylike mix of mint, pine, and lavender. I would visit my newly found floral friend often, gathering some of its flowers for a tea blend. I instinctively felt its healing properties from the scent, softness, sweetness, of the Woolly Blue - love at first sight.
In the beginning, I only found one plant near my studio in Topanga, California. As I am anytime when foraging wild-growing flora in my practice, both for perfume tinctures and herbal teas, I was mindful to always ask this plant for permission while gathering its flowers, leaves and stems for tea - leaving the rest for the bees.
The next year I was so happy to see the Grandmother Plant had proliferated new offshoots. As I started to become more familiar with my new California Terrain, after 27yrs on the East Coast as the Southern California Flora and Fauna reveals themselves to me as I walk and sit with what grows on local trails and in my own backyard. I have now found an abundance of these unique flowers growing very close by just under my nose. So now I gather these soulful blue stems from spring to summer, dry them by hanging them in fragrant bunches in a cool shady spot out of hot summer sun, then use them as tea throughout the year. Always, always, always, I am very mindful to only take what I need by only using what I forage in my most treasured blends.
I love how the plants find us when we most need them. This rich patch of Woolly Blue, California Sage, and Black Sage found me just when I needed it! The Wild Black Sage and California Sage I use in tinctures for my elixirs (shh a secret ingredient!) and of course the Woolly Blue has become a healthy tea remedy woven into my daily rituals - that is until I run out of my seasonal batch!
The Recipe: Beauty From The Blue - California “Woolly Blue Curls” Tea
In my Woolly Blue Curls Tea, I love to add wild rose hips, wild rose petals, and buds for extra Aromatic pleasure. If you don’t have access to Woolly Blue Curls in your area, you can possibly procure them seasonally in small amounts online from local wildcrafters and herbalists.
If you are looking for more homebrews to soothe your system, I will be sharing more recipes on the blog very soon 🌿
Image of Red Clover Blossoms and Peony Petals by Leanne Hirsh
☞ STEP ONE - GATHER:
1-2oz of Woolly Blue Curls
0.5oz of 3-4 other dried or fresh herbs such as:
Mint
Lavender
Wild Rose Hips
Rose Petals
Lemon Balm
Yerba Santa
Lemon leaves
Orange Leaves
Loquat leaves
1 Large 62 oz Mason Jar or 8 cup Ceramic Teapot
❊ ✽ ❊ Herb Selection Notes ❊ ✽ ❊
In this recipe, I am using a mix of 4 key herbs: Woolly Blue Curls, Rosehips, Rose Petals, and Mint but you can be creative and just use a single herb or your own interpretation of what’s on hand!
Fresh or dried either mindfully gathered locally, found at local farmers’ markets, or online from ethical health stores.
Herbs that contain volatile oils such as Lavender, Ginger, Mint, Lemon Balm/ Hyssop can be used fresh if one has access to those.
Use dried plants for the minerals and polyphenols that are rich in colorful compounds such as Rosehips, Hibiscus, Nettles, Red Clover, Rooibos etc.
Some plants offer more nourishing properties when dried and steeped as INFUSIONS overnight to release the minerals and polyphenols and compounds such as Nettles. (my favourite spring tonic tea) Rosehips, Hibiscus, Linden flowers, Red Clover, Oatstraw, Marshmallow Root, Elderflower etc.
One of my all-time mentors and WISE WOMEN SUSUN WEED who I studied with while up in Woodstock, NY, swears by drinking herbal infusions daily with nutrient-rich plants Linden flowers, Nettles, Red Clover, Oatstraw, are some of her staples.
☞ STEP TWO - MAKE:
Take a big pinch* - approximately a palmful - of each herb and add it to your Mason Jar or pot.
Bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil.
Pour boiling water over your herbs until the container is 80% full, or approximately just under where the Mason Jar begins to curve into the neck.
Steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve hot on chilly winter nights or let cool then pour on ice in the summer.
❊ ✽ ❊ Bonus Steps ❊ ✽ ❊
If you wish to make a nourishing infusion, as opposed to a traditional healing tea:Take 1-2 of your chosen dried herbs, such as Red Clover and Mint, and completely fill the jar to the top as they float on the top.
Pour boiling water over the added botanicals.
Steep your herbs overnight at room temperature.
Refrigerate once the blend has cooled.
Serve the next day for the best flavor and functionality.
Use any leftovers for a hair rinse or to feed the plants!
*Adjust to your own taste preference, this is my own suggestion which lies on the strong side to get the optimal benefits from the flowers.
☞ STEP THREE - ENJOY:
Add Honey, Maple Syrup, or Agave to taste. Serve it up warm on cold days or iced on hot days. Drink on your own or with a loved one.
Did you know...
The Woolly Blue Curls, part of the mint family, are known for soothing the body with helpful benefits like digestion support? It is also said to aid memory, is an anti-inflammatory, and is good for respiratory issues. This unique plant was so revered in value by Native Americans that they even used it as currency. According to the local Native American tribe, the Kumeyaay, they said if a woman bathes in a bath with Woolly Blue Curls, no man will be able to resist her. I’m in!
Woolly Blues is known in Latin, as 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘮, and the Spaniards who would later discover this species called it 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰 or Rosemary due to its resemblance to this look-alike shrub with petite purple flowers (which bloom during certain times of the year) and similarly shaped leaves, which is also found all over in Southern California.
✦✦✦
SOURCES:
Fire Response: Trichostema lanatum is a ‘fire-follower’; Germinates from seed. Seeds require stimulus from chemicals in the smoke of burning Coastal Sage Scrub or Chaparral to germinate. Contributed by Liz Baumann
Additional References:
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/September08/anti-cancer.htm
Roadside Plants of Southern California, by Thomas J. Belzer
California Native Plants for the Garden, by Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien
California Herbal Remedies, by LoLo Westrich