Hey, I'm Kami McBride and I'm author of "The Herbal Kitchen". I'm here at
Mountain Rose Herbs and we're working on just finding all these
beautiful and creative ways to layer herbs into your everyday life. We're
going to make herbal waters right now. I love the herbal waters because it's one
of the most simple ways to get herb into something that you already do every day.
You already drink water, right? This is also another great way to start to
introduce you know those like eye-rolling family members or those non-compliant
family members that aren't quite into that herbal thing that you're doing. If
you start creating a refreshment station, a hydration station, a place in
your kitchen, a central place in your kitchen where you have beautiful teas
and garnished waters ready to drink every day, pretty soon they're going to be
like, "Well where's the water? Where's the herb water?" And it's a great
way to introduce new people in a very... you know, they don't have to do loose tea
or drink tea that tastes bitter. They're going to be drinking
something that has tea, herbs, and also a fruit that they're familiar with, so this
is a great way to introduce people to your the whole herbal world that you
love so much. So we're going to make three herbal waters. And one thing I want
to say is that you don't have to be recipe dependent. So in my book I have 14
chapters and every one of those chapters is about getting herbs into...
layering herbs into your everyday life. And so I have an entire chapter on
herbal waters, but I want to say that really it's not about being recipe
dependent. It's about using what you have at your farmers market, what food and
fruit you have, what herb and fruit you have that's that's ripe or growing where you
are, right? It doesn't have to be this combination but I have a couple
combinations that I've done over the years that are crowd-pleasers and so I
want to share those with you. Okay, so the first one. So this is really simple, so
pay attention. The first one is so simple. It's elderflower and lime. And
this recipe, one time I had I had a bunch of
elderflower tea made up and I had a neighbor stopped by and she brought a
bag, a huge bag of limes, and I was like "Hmm, what could we do with that?" And so
that's how this elderflower and lime recipe was created and it is so
delicious! Now the other thing about the herbal waters is there's no ratio or
proportion. You know how like when you make tea it's like this much? Your waters
can be just like as simple as just like a few garnishes, right? And just like
pinches of fresh herb, pinches of dried herb, or you can put a lot in. It really
is a personal preference kind of flavor thing. It's also very visual and
so there isn't a proportion. So I'm going to invite you to just... this is a place
where you can playh. Tere's no right way here, okay? Don't you love that part of
when herbal medicine is like that? And so I'm just gonna throw a bunch of sliced
limes in here and this, instead of just
drinking plain water, now you're putting all the vitamins and the minerals that
are in the herbs and the fruit. Super hydrating! Yeah, we're
gonna put in the elderflower. This is a great drink for summer. Okay, so
you just get your herbs and your fruit in there, shake it up a bit, and there you
go. Just let that infuse, I usually, if I'm having a party or if I'm having guests
over, I'll let the herbal waters infuse for a
couple hours, and then they're ready to go and you can just pour that.
Have a strainer out and you can just pour that through a strainer. And this is
so good for summertime. Super cooling, calming, and and so delicious! So the
other one that is just really amazing... I have a lot of evergreen trees where I
live and so you can use your fir, your cedar, pine, and you get these fresh. You
can break them up like that or you can put sprigs in. People like
sprigs. People will be more curious if they see the sprigs in there, and part of
what you're trying to do is, you know, evoke a sense of curiosity and
wonder, and like what is that drink, right? So you're gonna put your lemon in there
and this is so simple yet elegant. When you garnish your drinks
people feel kind of kind of taken care of, like you've done something special
for them. And it only takes like a minute, right? So again, you just kind of shake it
up. And that's yummy. That's a yummy one. Okay, and then let's
see, we've got this one. These recipes are ... I'm from a valley where it's full of stone fruit. And peaches are one of my... they're the fruit... I've been eating peaches since I was born. There are a lot of peach trees where I
live, so you'll see in "The Herbal Kitchen" there are a lot of recipes with stone
fruit and peaches. But again, what do you have where you live? What's your fruit?
What's the fruit that you love and that grows near you, right? And so
the lemon balm is another really simple herb to grow and you can also get it
dried. You can use fresh or dried herbs this way. Okay yeah. Put your peaches in there. This
is so yummy. And again this is just a simple way, like if you're having a
gathering or a party, and you can make two or three herb waters. And it's so
not intimidating, you know? Again, a lot of people are intimidated by
tea and all the different herbal medicines. But this is a great way to get
people started and you're really bringing beauty, and curiosity, and just
all these wonderful colors, and you're infusing them into something that you
already do. You already drink water and yeah, so again, this is just a complete
starting place. The variations on this
is just really endless and it's so much fun.
And this is something that you really
get the kids in on, right? You have the kids help make the herb water. So my son,
now he's totally trained. When we're getting ready for dinner or especially
if we have guests coming over, he is all about like he gets the herb, he does the
herb water, you know? He'll go to the garden, pick a few sprigs of lemon balm,
or passion flower, or rose petals, and then we'll get whatever fruit is in season.
You know it could be the fall melons or it could be the spring fruits, and you
just go for it. So here's super simple herb waters and I hope you have
some fun with this.