So Mushroom in My Heart for You

Used medicinally for centuries, Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are finding a renewed popularity among the gardening, fungi, and natural health set, and if it lives up to the hype, it's little wonder why!

What began as a random, cryptic text from my brother, the hobbyist-forager, bringing a local, family-owned, fungi-cultivating company (Fungi Perfecti) to my attention, ended with me ordering, and growing several of my own patches.  After some trials, and a few errors on my end of things, I had my first harvest!  The search was on!  I needed to find something to do with my newly acquired Antler Reishi, or Rokkaku-Reishi Mushrooms, and since they're incredibly difficult to grind into a powder without the help of industrial equipment (just ask my poor food processor!) I decided a hot beverage would be the best way to put them to use.  Without further ado...

Reishi "Tea"

Here's what you need:
4 cups Water
2 heaping Tablespoons of Antler Reishi Mushroom.  You want to keep the ratio as 4-5 cups of water to 3-5 grams of mushroom.

Here's what you do:
In an uncoated, or enamel pot, combine 4 cups of water with mushroom chunks and heat to just below boiling.  Reduce heat and cover, making sure to keep your liquid below a simmer.  Steep for 2-4 hours.

Now that you've got your Reishi Tea prepared you can either continue with the recipe, or strain, bottle, and refrigerate the liquid until you are ready to use it.

Mushroom FoMo (faux-mocha) Latte

Here's what you need:

6 whole Cloves
6 pods Cardamom
1/4 tsp ground Allspice
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground Ginger
4 tsp powdered Chicory
4 Tbsp powdered Carob
4 Tbsp pure, organic Maple Syrup
2 cups full-fat, organic, canned Coconut Milk

Here's what you do:

If you've stored your Reishi Tea, warm it up in an uncoated or enamel pot, if you're continuing without pause from the previous steps add clove, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and steep on very low heat for 20 minutes.  Strain, and in your 4 cups of liquid stir in 4 Tbsp of powdered Carob, and 4 tsp of powdered Chicory until dissolved, and 4 Tbsp pure, organic Maple Syrup (or Honey), adding 2 cups of room temperature full-fat, organic, canned Coconut Milk at the end.  Serve, sprinkle with nutmeg, and enjoy!

What I've learned:
If you're growing your own Antler Reishi Mushrooms try to break them or cut them up closer to harvesting them.  I thought I'd dry them out, and they'd just grind right up, instead they hardened to a wood-like state, and scratched the hell out of my food processor, which means extra careful cleaning after each use from now on, since food particles hiding in deep grooves in cookware is a great place for foodborne illnesses to get their start in life!  Those of you with counter top grain mills may have better luck in this area than I did.  When making the Mushroom FoMo Latte, I pop the cardamom pods before throwing them in the pot to steep.  I don't go so far as to dig out all the little seeds, I just give them a good crack, and toss them in.  If you want to get fancy, and top your beverage off with a dollop of whipped coconut cream, check out this post at Tasty Yummies for instructions, and a handy little index for which brands whip up the best.

Lord Almighty, I Feel My Temperature Rising!

And, not just because I'm a hunk of burning love.  As Summer lulls on, the mercury keeps surging, and it's got me looking for new ways to stay hydrated, and cool

leading me to peppermint infused water.  

Since the menthol in peppermint can actually induce a mild sweat, it's considered a cooling agent, and is quite refreshing in small doses.  Peppermint is also a source of calcium, magnesium, and potassium - some of the crucial building blocks for our electrolytes, which are often easily depleted by guzzling tons of ordinary water in hot Summer months.  Ok, so while we may not be bowled over by the trace amounts of minerals in herbs, and able to forsake all other forms of food (1 Tbs of fresh leaves = 9 mg of potassium), it certainly doesn't hurt to slip 'em into your jug, and infuse your beverage you were already going to drink!

The Best Exotic Marigold Tea Recipe

August, for me (aside from watching films about pensioners moving to India), has been all about tracking down the best tea recipe to put all of my fresh summer 

marigolds to work.  I came up a little shorthanded ... Apparently, something my great-grandmother would have considered common knowledge is now somehow one of the great mysteries of the known universe.  The only natural method that I could find (that did not include drying the flowers in a microwave, of all things), or one having any sort of resemblance to a recipe was for an antiseptic tincture that I adapted for tea-time:

New Moon in Leo Mandala from the High Vibe Guide

• 1-2 Cups rinsed Marigold petals (snipped right above the green calyx that holds the petals on the stem).
• 4 Cups boiling water.
• Combine in French Press and steep until a rich, golden-red color appears, or combine in another suitable container, and strain to serve.

Sweeten with your desired sweetener if you're into that sort of thing (mine happens to be a pinch of Stevia).

That's it!

The taste is somewhat reminiscent of a dandelion tea, not exact, but the same kind of "body" is what you can expect.  This has definitely turned into a new favorite, and don't be timid, the more aggressively you snip the blooms from a marigold plant, the more it responds all summer long -- well into October (which makes sense with it being the "birth flower" for that month), and even into a very wet November last year around my neck of the woods.  Hopefully, by then I'll have my instructions perfected for drying & storing the petals in order to enjoy the tea throughout the chilly, hibernation months.  Until then ... Enjoy!