Link to the video: Click here
Link to the recipes: Click here
Frequently I say things like “the best herbs are the ones that you will use” or “the most powerful herbs are the ones that are a part of your life”.
So many time people come to me with so much confusion about how to bring herbs into their daily lives. And that gets me all excited and I start bouncing around and it just goes wild from there.
A couple of weeks ago I got to go on a little vacation with a friend up to Breckenridge. There are hot tubs there and a lovely kitchen and a balcony. On my frequent walks around, I noticed how many of the border plantings were herbs. I wondered if anyone else noticed that the decorative plantings were actually healing herbs.
Somehow that morphed into wanting to created herbal craft drinks. #howmybrainworks
Per usual, I wanted to show how herbs commonly in your garden could be transformed into exciting and unusual beverages for the season.
Hammered out some draft recipes and took a run into town for supplies – day drinkies for work?! Heck yeah! The alcohol I chose were both herbal based – mezcal and gin. You can always sub in a more neutral spirit like vodka if you’d rather. Let's call the testing a success!
Once at home, I did the final filming in the kitchen of our strawbale studio and a filming of closeups the next day. Boy, am I crazy ambitious for my first real YouTube video. Mostly just crazy. I hope you enjoy!
My focus was on actually teaching you how to build the components of the drinks from the ground up as much as possible.
The video shows me picking the herbs out of my garden but comes with the assurance that store bought is just fine.
Sage Dragon’s Blood Martini
Sage is a great herb for much more than your Thanksgiving turkey. Sage is antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic and has a strong affinity for healing the mucosa of the mouth. In the video, I put together a very quick infusion of sage and gin. Because it’s just for the flavor, the infusion is just for 30 minutes. If this recipe was allowed to infuse for several weeks, we would call it a tincture. The other difference would be there would be much more herbs used. Tinctures are the strongest way to get herbal healing into your life and also very simple to make. We will cover Tinctures in the future so look forward to this.
Sage is used in Soothing Werx for this reason,
to help heal and sooth your lips and mouth: SHOP
Just for fun, I suggest making your own pomegranate molasses starting with pomegranate juice and water. At 5000 feet it took most of the evening at a low heat to boil the juice down by a bit more than half. By the end the entire top of the juice was covered in small bubbles that I wish I had filmed. My Recommendations in the website include a link if you’d rather buy it. RECOMENDATIONS
And awesome, I have a pint of sweet, tangy and healthy syrup. There are many health benefits to pomegranates – antioxidant, rich in vitamin C, helps fight inflammation, and may help to improve heart health. Can’t wait to find more uses for it!
Glazing the glass with the pomegranate molasses was really fun. I’m going to try freezing the glasses to see if it will cling better. Even though molasses is said to be slow, it pooled quickly in the bottom of the glass. Let me know if you try this!
Rosemary Black Widow Crush just sort of built itself.
Blackberries are rich in Vitamin C. As we go into the Cold and Flu season, it is critical to up our intake of Vitamin C to help our immune system. All berries are healing but blackberries due to the high levels of antioxidants are one of the best. They are in season during the fall so go nuts!
Rosemary is a natural antibiotic and helps fight mental fatigue. We have a long grind ahead of us, people. The Holiday Season is not for the faint of heart. I grow it as an annual due to the cold weather in Colorado. I’m once again trying it as an indoor plant but hopes are not high.
Another powerful benefit of rosemary is it helps alleviate muscle pain. You can find rosemary in our recipe for Aching Werx for this reason. SHOP
Orange bitters are a lovely flavor boost. Bitters are a fascinating subject. Known to help with digestion, they are a very ancient healing. Look for some information and recipes this winter. Find more information on my Recommendations page. RECOMMENDATIONS
We are all only here because our ancestors responded well to the healing power of herbs.
Be well
Enjoy
Get to it!