Southern Mint Tea

Spring has arrived in the south. Time to dig your hands in the rich soil in the ground and plant veggies, herbs and flowers. Their isn’t anything better than to bite down on a ripe tomato or make a pitcher mint tea and just sat on the porch swing and take in the floral sweet smells of a southern afternoon. 

Today I was thumbing through a new cook book, I had picked up on the clearance shelf at Books a Million and found a great article on herbs!

It’s amazing the many things you can do with herbs planted in your garden. 

Bee Stings: you can ease the pain and swelling by rubbing it with crushed leaves of comfrey or basil! (Be sure to remove the bee stinger first).

Naural Mouthwash: Steep 3 cups of boiling water with 1 tablespoon of anise seed, dried peppermint, and rosemary for 15 minutes. (Double if your using fresh herbs), Strain, cool and refrigerate to use as needed. This is only to freshen your mouth not to be swallow!

Hair Rinse: Blonds and brunette use a calendula rinse, this will bring out the highlights!
A rosemary rinse for dark hair.

Herbal Steam Facial: Place a handful of peppermint leaves in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them. Make a tent with clean towel over your head so your head is taking in the steam. Use for 10 minutes. Refresh boiling water if needed.

I can hear the tea kettle whistling in the kitchen. It’s time to make southern mint tea. Place two family size tea bags in  4 cups of water. Open a 12 oz can of frozen lemonade (any brand), pour in a large pitcher, add 4 cans of water.  Once your tea is ready, place 1 oz of mint leaves in the hot tea to seep for 10 minutes. Drain off the tea into the pitcher with the lemonade mix. Add 1/2 cup of sugar.  Make a tall glass of iced lemonade mint tea and relax Time to go back to the porch swing and finish my book on this cool Saturday afternoon in the south.