When my gang gets sick I break out the Buck Tea!

Sam-Our Stinky Kinder Goat Buck

I know that doesn’t sound very herbal.

It is, and I’ll share the easy recipe below. It’s really a lemony hot, spicy herb tea.

So why do we call it Buck Tea?

Years ago my older kids gave it that name in order to terrorize their younger siblings.

We raise goats and know very well the gross behaviors that bucks(intact male goats) engage in.

OK, they urinate all over themselves and drink it-leaving a stinky mess running down their beards and legs. Evidently this drives the girls wild. Go figure.

Knowing this and being threatened with having to drink something called ‘Buck Tea’ you’d have been terrorized too. As soon as someone felt rotten, or started with a cough or runny nose I made a batch of tea up.The kid’s conversations usually went something like this:

” You’re sick? Ha! Now YOU have to drink Buck Tea, muaahhhahaha”!

Followed by the victim’s sobs,weeping, mild hysteria, then sniffcoughwhimpersniff…sniff…

Thankfully they have all outgrown that stage.

If you want to make your own Buck Tea you’ll need just three ingredients:

A lemon.

One Lemon

some Dried Sage -Salvia officinalis:

Some Dried Sage

and Cayenne Pepper power…I mean powder

Some Dried Pepper Powder

Here we go-

You can make a cup at a time, or a pot full. I’ve listed approximate amounts of each ingredient for different quantities. I usually make it up in pots, but I make everyone drink it. You know-just to be on the safe side

To make a Mug:

1 TB dried sage

a wedge of lemon

Shake of cayenne

Honey or Stevia to sweeten

~~~~*~~~~

To make a jar…

1/2 cup dried sage

1/4 or 1/2 of a lemon (more cuts the sage flavor and makes it more lemony.

Dash or two..or three of Cayenne pepper

Honey or Stevia to sweeten your cup

~~~~*~~~~

For a pot (usually a 2-3 quart pot)

Sage In The Pot

3/4 to 1 cup dried sage

1 or 2 lemons. If I have them I’ll use two for a full pot, I like the lemony flavor.

Shake-shake-shake-shake in your Cayenne*

*You want the tea ‘hot’ enough to clear sinuses, but not so spicy that your taste buds go up in flames.

“How To Make Buck Tea” for Mugs and Jars:

Making Buck Tea in a Jar

Put your sage into jar…you can use a strainer or tea ball if making yours in a mug.

Heat water to just boiling and pour hot water into mug, or jar.You can also be smart and lazy and just microwave the water in your mug or jar.

With a tea ball- load it up with sage, drop it in the hot water and bounce it up and down a lot to wet the sage.

In a jar you will mix the loose sage into the hot water. It will not want to mix in and will tend to float. Just keep pushing it down with a spoon. Within a minute or so it will start to absorb the water and settle down nicely. Squeeze in the lemon juice and toss the lemon rind into the jar. Really. Then poke it down.

Add the Cayenne and mix it.  Cover it. Let site for at least 15 minutes, longer if possible.

If the taste is too strong, add some water to your mug. Everyone here does that-except me. I’m a tough old bird.

Strain or remove tea ball.

Sweeten to taste.

Strain Your Buck Tea

“How to Make Buck Tea” by the Pot:

Add your sage to the pot, and then add about 5 or 6 times the water…so 1 cup of sage to 5 or 6 cups of water.

Add your cut lemons-squeezing in the juice and tossing the rinds into the pot.

Heat to almost boiling and add your Cayenne. Turn off heat,cover and let sit as long as possible before drinking-but 15 minutes anyway.

Strain

Sweeten to taste and water down if needed.

~~~~*~~~~

You can drink this through out the day whenever you feel a cold coming on-which is why I make big batches of it. We find when you first feel ill and begin drinking Buck Tea, it seems to completely knock out or at least slow down a virus.

You can also freeze Buck Tea!

I use small containers-one serving size each- and keep a few on hand. It saves time when someone needs it and I don’t have time to mix up a batch. Simply thaw, heat, and drink!

* This recipe is NOT set in stone! You just need the three components but if you want more lemon, use it! More Cayenne? Sure, go ahead! Want to make it in a Teletubbies Tea Cup? Why not!

If you try it, I hope this recipe helps you and your family feel better.

I’d love to hear about it…unless you have a horrible reaction to Sage, or peppers, or lemons, or something.

Lemons

A really excellent herb-snack, these Rosemary glazed nuts are beautiful and simple to make.

Six ingredients is all it takes. Mixed nuts (or just your favorites) fresh Rosemary, Cayenne pepper, butter, brown sugar, and sea or Kosher salt. You can find Nigella’s recipe here.

You can tweak the recipe and add a bit more cayenne for those that prefer the spicier stuff.

Me? I’ll add more Rosemary next time since I love the stuff.

Either way, it’s all really good!

I think they are the easiest culinary herb in the western world.  Chives are fast growing, quick to cook with (very little prep time)  and they are one herb that I’ll grab to add a mild oniony flavor at the last minute of cooking…or just use freshly snipped.

In the fall I bring in a pot or two of Chives and keep them in the kitchen window. These pots will go for a month or two and provide me with fresh chives. They do like a rest period though, so I also keep several small pots on ’standby’ just outside my backdoor.  This usually means those pots are buried in ice and  snow for awhile, but they like it!  The plants rest and are dormant during this time.

Eventually the chives I brought inside in October start to look tired. I don’t fertilize them at this point, but instead I set them outdoors and just bring in a new pot.

The old pot gets a needed rest and the chives that have been dormant and resting in the snow for a few months are ready to get growing again.

For them Spring has Sprung-even if they come indoors during a January blizzard!

Here is what they look like as dormant plants:

Dormant Chives in the Snow

 I have tidied them up a bit and just several days later you can see they are growing like crazy.

Gluten Free Herbed Bread

Gluten free herbed bread, that is… this is a recent dietary adjustment at our house.

I combined a gluten free bread mix from Bob’s Red Mill along with another GF bread recipe I found. I tossed in some herbs, ( see below) a variety of seeds, and baked the whole thing into a large round loaf. Surprisingly it  turned out very nicely!

I never know what I’ll get when I start to experiment like this – sometimes I get carried away… *blush*

 It made a flavorful heavy/hearty “whole grain” style loaf. When paired with a steaming hot mug of beef stew, the herb bread was the perfect “dunking” companion.

I have long added herbs to my ‘regular’ flour breads and rolls, and now continue to experiment with my gluten free breads. Thankfully there are many great GF blogs I follow for great recipe ideas! If you are interested let me know and I’ll post a few of my favorites.

Here are some herbs to add to your breads. Try pairing a few of them together, or for your first try, you might just go with a single herb.  Adding seeds such as caraway, dill, coriander, and others can add great flavor to breads and rolls, too!

You could also do plain bread or rolls served with an herb butter. Herbed butter is SO easy to make and really delicious with vegetables or breads. OK, with anything really.

Yum!

If not, it’s high time you did! It’s easy to make and a real treat.

Herbed Butter on Bread

How to Make Herb Butter

You’ll need a softened stick of butter and about 2 tablespoons of finely minced fresh herbs.

Add the minced herbs to softened butter.

Add a pinch of sea salt(optional) and mix well.
Chill slightly to firm up butter.

You can store this in the refrigerator and use within a few days or you can freeze the herb butter into “log” shapes then cut them into butter pats.

Herb Butter Logs

For herb butter logs start by chilling your herb butter until it is cool enough to be handled, but has not become completely firm.

You’ll need a good sized piece of wax paper.

The wax paper should be large enough for you to form a “log” of butter in the center of the paper with enough room to roll up the paper around the log.

Spoon your chilled butter onto the waxed paper. Form into a log shape slightly smaller than a stick of butter.  Roll up the waxed paper around the butter to shape the log. I usually make mine about 1 1/2″ – 2″ thick, or roughly the same size as stick of butter would be…with rounded edges.

When you are ready to use your herb butter you can remove it from the freezer, (thaw slightly if frozen,) then slice into pats.

Be sure to keep any leftover butter chilled.

If you plan to store your butter in the freezer for awhile, make sure to store the wax papered log in a tightly sealed freezer bag.

Butter Molds

If you want to get creative, you can also use butter molds. We found lots of pretty ones at Amazon.com. Candy molds also work well, and the new silicone molds are great.

To use a butter mold, pack the molds with your herbed butter, chill for an hour or two; then pop the pretty little butter pats out of the molds. They are almost too pretty to eat!

Now go try that herb butter on some fish, bread or veggies.