I’m a chicken when it comes to foraging, but I am genuinely interested in trying some of the edible wild plants that I’ve been learning about. I am working up my courage to try them while I expand my knowledge about them. When I read recently that goldenrod flowers and leaves can be made into a decent herbal tea, I decided to investigate further, because goldenrods are flowers with which I have some familiarity. I feel safer with them than I do with other plants that I’ve only recently identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s also a fun and historical story behind goldenrod tea. After the Boston Tea Party, colonists starting making “Liberty Tea<\/a>,” which was the name they gave to various teas concocted from local plants, including goldenrod. Liberty Tea was even exported to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is some disagreement about which goldenrods are good for tea-making. It seems to depend on what you want from the tea. If you want good flavor, sweet goldenrod is the best, and perhaps only, way to go. Most of my edible-plant guides mention that variety and that variety alone. Sweet goldenrod is said to have an anise-like flavor, which might not be everybody’s “cup of tea.” I have had anise tea, though, and liked it, so it stands to reason that I’d like sweet goldenrod tea, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Online sources are less discriminating about the type of goldenrod used, and for the so-called “medicinal properties,” then perhaps any variety would do. In The Neighborhood Forager,<\/em> author Robert K. Henderson states, “Where sweet goldenrod is unavailable, the less aromatic flowering tops of other tall species can be used. Canada goldenrod (S. canadensis<\/em>), western goldenrod (S. occidentalis<\/em>), smooth goldenrod (S. gigantea<\/em>), tall goldenrod (S. altissima<\/em>), or fragrant, white-flowering silverrod (S. nemoralis<\/em>) can all be infused. Few have sweet goldenrod’s flavor, however, so they are more useful for medicinal than beverage tea.” Goldenrod is said to be a diuretic, which sounds believable to me. As for other health claims made by herbalists, I am skeptical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I were to use goldenrod for tea, it would be for the flavor (foraging is one thing, and alternative medicine is quite another). Obviously, to make a good-tasting cup of tea you need something aromatic. So, as a quick and easy first step, the other day I picked a bunch of goldenrod leaves (well, leaves of plants that I was pretty sure were goldenrods–none of them have bloomed yet). I tore the leaves and gave them a sniff. Some of them had no discernible scent. Others were grassy with an unpleasant hint of something menthol-like. They didn’t seem like good tea-making leaves to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a little disappointed, but it’s early for goldenrods. There are many varieties, some of which don’t bloom until fall, and I won’t be able to identify them until they’re blooming. Maybe I’ll find some tea-worthy types later in the season. I will search for them, even if that means making a spectacle of myself. I suspect that I already look crazy to passers-by as I stop to take pictures of every other thing along the side of whatever path I’m on, and no doubt I will look crazier yet picking and sniffing at random leaves, but it will be fun. Expect to see more goldenrod posts as the year progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m a chicken when it comes to foraging, but I am genuinely interested in trying some of the edible wild plants that I’ve been learning about. I am working up my courage to try them while I expand my knowledge … Continue reading