Nettle
Urtica dioica
Leaf (dried for tea) · cooling · mineral · building
A green salt — the mineral broth of the hedgerow.
In the mouth
How it tastes
Earthy, green, spinach or mineral, a soft sweetness when well-made. Slightly astringent.
Traditional use
Nettle infusions were the folk multivitamin: drunk for tired blood, creaky joints, and spring itch. The sting is the plant’s teaching; once dried or cooked it becomes food. Salty, deep green, and quietly restoring.
In the cup
A generous handful of dried leaf in a jar, covered with just-off-boil water, steeped 4 hours or overnight. Strain. Culinary: cooked like spinach, soup, pesto.
Blood
Salty blood · salt
Salt is cooling and barely a taste. These plants dry first, then move fluid — and water follows. They are mineral salts, not table salt: building, coating to sensitive membranes, thinning stuck mucous, supporting kidneys and the kreb-cycle minerals of muscle and nerve.
Read salty bloodReached for
Who it feeds
The living bloom
The promise
A careful hand
Ordinary tea for a healthy adult.
Fresh plant stings; drying or cooking ends that. A nutritious leaf tea, widely regarded as safe. Diuretic — drink water. Food-like amounts in pregnancy are the old nutritive use. Rare allergy.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Oatstraw
Avena sativa
The mineral tea of a nervous system that has been spent.
Frayed nerves · Hollow energy · Irritable skin
Mineralize, soothe, and restore fluid
Rosehip
Rosa canina
The autumn fruit of the rose — a sour pantry vitamin.
Chill & congestion · Hollow energy · Irritable skin
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Peppermint
Mentha × piperita
The lift in the cupboard — head, belly, and a closed room.
Bloating · Indigestion · Headache
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.