Herb of the Month - Cinnamon

     Here it is September and the nights will start to get cool and crisp.  Some of the leaves on the trees are starting to turn colors and just the other day, I saw a squirrel racing up our maple tree with a black walnut in its mouth.  My guess, enjoying it before one of its friends decide to have it instead.
     Cool weather reminds me of the spice cinnamon.  A spice that is warming to the soul, whether you have it mulled with hot cider or place a stick in your hot chocolate or coffee.  This spice is usually used when baking and some like it with pork.
      Cinnamon has been around for thousands of years.  The Egyptians would incorporate the spice in their embalming mixtures.  It was one of the spices that spurred world exploration.  The Romans would pay dearly for it and it was highly valued.
     The spice comes from a small tender evergreen tree, with inconspicuous yellowish flowers that rise in long pannicles.  The leaves are bright red, turning green as it matures, glossy; opposite and about 7 inches long.  The tree can grow up to 40 feet in height.  The part that is used is the inner bark.  As it dries, it curls into sticks or quills.  These sticks are then used whole or ground.
     East Indian, Moroccan, Chinese, Indonesian, Arabic, Iranian, Scandinavian, Mexican, Hungarian and Greeks use the spice not only with savory meats, but in their desserts.  It stimulates the flavors of carrots, spinach, onions, apricots, cherries, apples, blueberries and oranges.  It compliments vanilla, fennel, nutmeg, ginger, freshly ground pepper, clove and cardamom.  Flavorful in fruit pies to meat pies.
      Here's something you can make using cinnamon sticks and other spices, to help freshen the air during the winter months.  Take pieces of cinnamon sticks, cloves, broken nutmeg and some ginger root and place it in an open pot of water and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Make sure you keep an eye on the water level.  The spice scent is soothing and welcoming, especially if you will have guests later in the day.  You can also create your own dry potpourri, using dried flowers that you grew this past year, adding cinnamon chips, cloves and allspice and nutmegs crushed.  Since people can be allergic to essential oils or fragrances, this is a natural scent.  For dried potpourri, have it in a enclosed container and when you want to freshen up the room, take the lid off for about 20 minutes, then recap.  This will improve the potpourri to mature in scent and you will find with time, it smells better than when you first mixed it.
     So the next time you look at the cinnamon you have in the cupboard, think of how you can use it as a tasty addition to your menu.  Add a stick to orange or apple juice as it chilling, add it to flavor your hot tea or coffee or the next time you glaze carrots.  Remember, cinnamon is not only for your pies.

Enjoy!

Our potpourri mixture has dried sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, bay leaves, citrus peels and tonka beans (which gives it a slight vanilla scent).  No essential oils or fragrances are used.

Lavender Spa Salt Bar

     As the summer days soon come to an end, I try to capture some of the garden scents and enjoy them in a number of ways throughout the year.  One that comes to mind is Lavender.
     Lavender derived from the Latin word lavare meaning to wash.  Romans enjoyed using it to scent their bathwater and to refresh the air in a room (as we would use potpourri).   For centuries, Lavender has been used for their calming properties, helping to relieve headaches, depression and a number of other healing purposes.  Because of the calming effect and antiseptic qualities it has, children in rural villages in France were regularly given lavender baths to keep them in good health.  A bottle of lavender essence can be used as a remedy against insect bites, cuts bruises.  In the language of Herbs and Flowers, Lavender symbolizes Devotion.

     We, at Bayberry Meadow, enjoy making some of our products with lavender, mixing them with a few other essential oils to come up with a wonderful scent for our soap.  We have a Patchouli Lavender, Lavender Amber, Rosemary Lavender, Eucalyptus Lavender and just plain Lavender soaps. 
     Our newest soap creation we made this past Spring, is our Lavender Spa Salt Bar which contains 2 different types of Hawaiian Sea salts.  The Hiwa Kai Black Lava sea salt is solar evaporated Pacific sea salt that is combined with activated charcoal (Alaea clay).  This is a sea salt that can be used as a table salt, has a natural saline flavor and has numerous detoxifying health benefits.  The second salt  is Alaea, which is a traditional Hawaiian table salt.  Its an all natural salt, rich in trace minerals found in sea water.  Its also enriched with the iron-oxide that is harvested from the red "Alae" clay.  With these salts we combined a number of moisturizing  oils and unrefined shea butter, lavender essential oil to create this wonderful soap. 
     Looking for something different to make with Lavender?  Lavender cookies were popular with a nice cup of tea during the Victorian era.  Here's one you may want to try out, the next time you invite someone over for tea.

Lavender Drop Cookies

1/4 cup of butter or margarine                             
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lavender buds, crushed fine
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely chopped mint

Preheat oven to 375*F.  Cream together the butter or margarine and the sugar.  Add the egg and the lavender buds, mix well.  Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the dried ingredients to the creamed mixture, and mix well.  Fold in the lemon zest and mint.
Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.  Watch carefully so cookies don't over-brown.

     Other great projects are lavender sachets, using cotton draw-string bags or recycle fabric to make your own pouches or small lavender pillows.  They can be placed in linen drawers, closets or in your dryer for a fresh lavender scent.

Enjoy!

Lucky Dragon Hyson tea still LOVED by Americans and British alike.

While we are still in the middle of summer and our reenactment season, it reminds me of great quality tea that is great iced.  Lucky Dragon hyson tea can be enjoyed hot with your favorite pastry treats or finger sandwiches.  I enjoy drinking it iced with some mint leaves, especially on those very hot days, without any sweetener. 

This young hyson green tea became highly favored in the 1700s that the British Tea Tax was actually higher for this variety over other teas.  Right from the first sale of tea in England in  the mid 1600s, the English took a shine to tea.  The government quickly realized the possibilities and levied taxes on tea that remained until the late 1700s.  With all the associated taxes on tea and young hyson being taxed even higher, there were all sorts of various schemes done to dodge the taxes.  Servants in upper class homes would dry the used leaves and resell them.  Smuggling China teas into England reached a feverish peak in the mid 1700s and the ports of France and Belgium were used as the 'jump-off' points for night voyages to Cornwall and Wales.  The chancellor of the Exchequer and the East India Company were aware of the extent of their losses and realized that only a large tax cut would make legal imports competitive with contraband tea.  Thus finally passing the Commutation Act in 1784.

Young Hyson tea was one of the types of tea that was dumped into the Boston Harbor along with Congou and Lapsong Souchong, which we carry both types of tea as well.  The term 'young' was added  to distinguish that the tea was made from young leaves (new shoots), which produces a better quality and better tasting tea.

So whether you are an reenactor or a tea drinker that enjoys drinking a fine tasting tea with a bit of history, try having some Lucky Dragon Hyson tea.  Definitely not the type of tea you find in tea bags, which are the fannings of tea.  Check out our etsy shop for other tea selections that have some history behind them or contact us directly.  Makes a great gift for that special tea drinker in your life.

CHEERS!

Great event this coming weekend - August 7-8th

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