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Dandelion Lilac Tea

dandelion lilac tea

It’s Recipe Redux time again! I am so excited because I have been hanging on to my homemade dandelion tea for a few weeks now. If you follow my Instagram you always get a sneak peek into the YUM world and what I am currently working on.

This months theme for Recipe Redux was:

Floral Flavors – Nothing brightens up a dish like a real flower! Whether you live in the northern or the southern hemisphere, edible flowers can add flavor and aroma to salads, breads, spreads, desserts or dips. Make your recipe bloom with rose water, flowering herbs, floral teas, dried lavender blossoms or even fresh flowers like nasturtiums, violets, borage, squash, sunflowers or pretty much any blossom in a vegetable garden.

 

I was pretty excited for this because kiddo and I had picked some dandelions from our yard after I had stumbled upon some dandelion tea and wine recipes. I thought since we ALWAYS have so many dandelions growing at the beginning of summer that it would be a perfect chance to me to try some of these recipes. Hubby wasn’t for the idea. For some reason he has this weird quirk about dandelions. He says they gross him out. Kiddo and I just laugh at him.

We picked a nice bucket full and brought them in. I laid them out on newspaper and let them dry. We had also picked some dark and light lilacs (well, kiddo did. picking is her thing.) from our trees. I thought they would be good to dry out as well.

Tea is one of my favorite things. It does not have to be cold out for me to enjoy a nice cup of tea, but when it does get super hot out I am known to drop in a few ice cubes!

Once all my flowers were dried, this tea was super simple to make.

In a tea strainer I placed a dandelion flower, some stems and a bit of lilac. I boiled some water and poured that in my cup, placing the tea in there to steep.

What you come up with is this wonderful, fragrant and healthy dandelion lilac tea.

I’m sure you are wondering just what the health benefits of dandelion tea are.

Glad you asked. 😉

 

dandelion tea brew

I do believe I am going to try making some dandelion wine next. I don’t have a lot of dandelions so I plan to make a small batch. Test the waters and see if I even like it. Most of the instructions I have found call for a quart or more of dandelions. The little jar you see here is all I have. No quart here. But, if I mix it with some lilacs, perhaps. I might be worth holding on to these and seeing what sort of ingredients I can use from the garden and try out a new flavor!

Because, that is how we learn, right?

Tea. Do you like it? Whats your favorite? How about your feelings towards dandelions?

comments

If you are interested in how others are incorporating flowers into their recipes, please check out the Recipe Redux list for this month!

Enjoy!


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89 Comments

  1. I have about 232.323 of them in my yard and I had no idea they served a purpose of any kind. This is so cool.

  2. I must say this is pretty neat. I love drinking tea but never thought to use a flower to infuse it. I would love to see how your dandelion wine comes out!

  3. I have heard of people using them to make a drink, but I think I was thinking beer. I did not know that you could use them for tea! I learn something new every day.

  4. My grandpa used to have me help him pick them out of the yard. I should have saved them for my grandma’s tea! She loved to drink tea.

  5. It would take me a little bit to wrap my mind around a tea based on a weed, but I’m sure I’d give it a try! I know this is fairly popular.

    1. I have a feeling a lot of herbs started out as ‘just weeds’ at some point until someone started to use them. Just a heads up, they do make dandelion tea already in satchels. I think Yogi makes one. This way, you will never know it came out of your own yard! 😉

    1. I agree. That is why I added lilac. Gave it a bit different taste. I also like mixing with some simple black tea. The last one I tried was this recipe mixed with a peach tea. Delish.

  6. I’ve heard of others using dandelions (especially in drinks.) It sounds interesting, though I don’t know if I’m brave enough (yet) to try it myself!

  7. I do not drink tea that much but my hubs loves it.Interesting way to use dandelion i have plenty around now i know what to do with them thank you lol.

  8. To me they are a weed and I just don’t know if I can get over that enough to try drinking a tea made from them. I’d be scared to pick the ones from my yard for fear of weed control sprays and stuff on them.

  9. Dandelions to drink…thats a new concept. I am sure there are some holistic benefits to it so thanks for sharing this interesting tidbit!

    1. I hope you do and let me know how you like it. Dont be afraid to experiment with different flavors by mixing it with your favorite tea!

  10. This tea looks delicious. I always love to find a new diuretic, especially during those annoying times of the month.

  11. This tea looks delicious. I always love to find a new diuretic, especially during those annoying times of the month.

    1. I found it pretty interesting. I had known about its uses for a while but never bothered to give it a try. Maybe next year I will actually did up the roots and make root tea and coffee. I hear its amazing.

  12. I knew they were edible as I’ve seen a lot more recipes including them I just didn’t know they were healthy. Using them would bring back tons of memories of rubbing them along the insides of our wrists, I can’t even remember what for now.

  13. That is very interesting. I don’t know if I will be brave enough to try it though. Thanks for linking up to Tasty Tuesdays at Creative K Kids. I pinned it to the Tasty Tuesdays Pinterest Board.

  14. I have a feeling a lot of herbs started out as ‘just weeds’ at some point until someone started to use them. Just a heads up, they do make dandelion tea already in satchels. I think Yogi makes one. This way, you will never know it came out of your own yard! 😉

  15. I’m not a big tea drinker, so I don’t think I’d care for this. The only dandelions I get are ones that my 3 year old has crumpled and picked from the yard.

    1. I understand. If you are not a fan of tea, then you probably won’t care for it. I do know you can dig up the roots for coffee. There are actually dandelion coffees on the market. All the health benefits with none of the work.

  16. I am a tea lover. I love chamomile, black and green but they are all store brought. Sadly, I live in a NYC apt and don’t have any dandelions I can pick. Boo! Btw, I’ll be tweeting from @MsLatina and @MomsRising on the 4th of July sharing healthy recipes during their #FoodFri chat — 1pm EST. Feel free to tweet your recipes. Just make sure to add #FoodFri to your tweets. Hope to you can join!

    1. Thank you so much for the invite. I will surely try to make it. You can buy dandelion tea at any tea shop, health food store and even supermarkets. All the benefits, none of the work!

  17. Thank you so much for the invite. I will surely try to make it. You can buy dandelion tea at any tea shop, health food store and even supermarkets. All the benefits, none of the work!

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