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If you happen
to be enjoying an after-dinner cup of tea on
this holiday, you’ll forgive me if I mention
that it’s not a traditional Thanksgiving
beverage you’re sipping. But so many things have
been added to the original menu, you should not
worry about this tea break. Inhale the delicious
aroma of Oolong — you deserve it!
It’s
unfortunate that tea did not arrive in America
until after the Dutch settlement of New
Amsterdam. The original colonists at Plymouth
could have used a good “cuppa” from time to
time. For the Thanksgiving feast, they had to
make do with sweet wine made from local grapes,
as well as the herbal brews the Native Americans
taught them to identify.
The New
Amsterdam settlement was the first to have tea
because the Dutch had been the first to make it
generally available in their country — first
selling at $100 a pound — then, as rare and new
spices such as ginger and sugar arrived from
overseas and more tea was imported, tea became
generally available in Holland and then
throughout the Western world.
It was not
until 1657 that the first public sale of tea was
held in
London. The publicity read:
“Worth twice its weight in silver” and went on
to list fantastic claims: tea was a benefit to
the spleen, kidneys, eyes, stomach. “It
vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the Brain and
strengtheneth the Memory.”
In 1674, tea
houses came to New York; in New England —
actually Salem, Mass., — there was a report that
tea was boiled for hours, then sprinkled with
salt and butter and eaten as a salad.
By 1720, tea
was such a favorite of colonial women that
England decided to levy a tax on it — a bad
decision, as it turned out. Even at this early
date, contraband tea was smuggled into the
colonies from ports far away, and of course
herbal teas were widely accepted by this time.
During the
Revolution, tea went out of style for the
duration but later reappeared as an
accompaniment to meals. It is said that George
Washington enjoyed tea for breakfast, along with
Indian cakes (cornmeal pancakes) covered with
butter and honey. He preferred dining lightly in
the evening on tea, toast and wine.
Sassafras
seems to be the tea of choice among the native
Americans. I am told it grows wild from Maine to
the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the
heartland of America. It does not appear in
Culpepper’s list of plants, so I would assume
that it was new to the first settlers. All parts
of the tree were used as a curative and for
food. Filé powder, made from the dried leaves of
sassafras, is still an essential ingredient in
creole recipes.
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
Sassafras Bark Tea
4 pieces
sassafras bark (4 by 2 inches)
5 cups boiling water
5 tsp. sugar
Cream
Place the
pieces of the rosy outer bark of sassafras root
in an enamel ware pan or teapot. Pour boiling
water over the bark, cover the container. Let
steep in a warm place for five minutes. Strain,
add cream and serve with sugar, or sweeten with
honey. Serves five.
There are
several other brews mentioned as a substitute
for tea, all originating with the Native
Americans. One of these, Bergamot, a member of
the mint family, was popular with the Winnebago
Indians and preferred by the settlers around
Oswego, N.Y.
Catnip was a
tea in England long before the first Oriental
tea came to Europe — the only one recognized by the colonists. They called it Cat Mint (nepeta
cataria) and it was grown in colonial gardens,
usually as a remedy for children’s colic, but
helpful for insomnia. The tea is made from the
leaves and flowering tops.
Clover (trifolium
pratense) is high in protein, calcium and
phosphorus. Native Americans enjoyed the leaves
and flowers both raw and boiled.
Clover
blossoms make good honey, clover blossom wine as
well as tea, which requires a good handful of
red clover blossoms for a two-cup teapot. Cover
with boiling water, cover and infuse for five to
10 minutes over very low heat. Strain into a hot
cup, add a twist of lemon and sweeten it with
honey.
Labrador Tea
(ledum groenlandicum) is a small evergreen shrub
is a member of the heath family, grows in bogs,
woods and swamps. It is said to make a spicy,
refreshing beverage that was popular with the
American colonists during the Revolution, as was
New Jersey Tea (ceanothus americanus), another
tea that was made from its leaves during the
boycott of English tea. The resulting drink is
said to taste much like Oriental tea.
Allene White lives in Brooklin. |
