Wild Summer and Fall Plant Foods: The Foxfire Americana Library - Foxfire Students (2011)

SUMMER AND FALL WILD PLANT FOODS

WILD TEAS

A variety of plants can be gathered and used to make pleasant-tasting teas. Some of these (sassafras, sweet birch, and spicewood) were included in the section of spring plant foods in Foxfire 2 (pp. 49-53). The plants given here, gathered in midsummer, seem to have a special quality, as if all the goodness of summer sun and showers was embodied in their leaves and flowers.

Sometimes various plants are combined in special mixtures. For example, “fatigue tea” combines nettles, dandelions, and yarrow. Garden tea is a mixture of strawberry leaves, grape leaves, and rose petals.

The mountain people used teas as beverages and as tonics. They would usually gather the plants in the proper season, remove the leaves or roots, and dry them. The dried material would be stored in jars or in a dry place and used as needed. They would keep all year if dried properly. Honey or syrup was used for sweetening, if desired.

Agrimony (Agrimonia parviflora, Agrimonia rostellata), (family Rosaceae) (tormentil, church steeples, cathedral plant)

The small agrimony (A. parviflora) and the large agrimony (A. rostellata) are very similar, except for size. Both are found along roadsides, in wet ditches, and around old homesites. They are perennials, with hairy stems and compound leaves. The leaves are very spicy when crushed. The small yellow flowers appear in midsummer and are followed by sticky seeds that adhere to clothing.

Though not as well known as some of the tea plants, both the flowers and the leaves make a fragrant tea. A lady near Blairsville called it “spice-tea,” and said it tasted like “apples with cinnamon.” Gather the leaves and flowers and boil, strain, and serve with lemon or sugar.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense) (family Leguminosae)

Red clover is common along roadsides and in old fields and pastures. It grows to two feet, with tri-divided leaves, each leaflet often marked with white. Occasionally leaves produce the lucky “four-leaf clovers.” The deep rose-red flowers appear in May, but blossom late in autumn. The flowers are very sweet-scented and favorites of bumblebees.

The flowers are edible and can be used in spring salads or brewed into tea. It is known as a “spring bracer” and when combined with honey made a good-tasting tea that was also a spring tonic. Clover blossoms are often combined with mints in midsummer or used in “old field tea”—made of sage, mullein, clover blossoms, and basswood blooms. Most of these teas were used to relax the drinker, and they did.

ILLUSTRATION 39 Red clover

It is said that red clover blooms can be combined with apples to make a pleasant-tasting jelly.

Basswood (Tilia americana) (family Tiliaceae)
(linden, bee tree, bast, daddywort)

The basswood is a tall tree of the rich mountain coves, with large, heart-shaped leaves and smooth bark. The very fragrant, creamy-white flowers appear in early summer. Bees seek out basswood after sourwood, and basswood honey is a clear white, flavorsome honey produced in some areas of the mountains. The nectar within the flowers is about 50 per cent pure sugar. The blossoms are gathered for tea or used in fruit desserts and candy.

Basswood blossom tea: a teaspoonful of flowers for each pint of water. Strain and add sugar or honey, or drop a couple of cloves into the pot.

Basswood bark tea: peel the bark and boil it. Strain and add sugar to taste. It was sometimes used for colds and flu.