San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-23
Teas and Tisanes.

used to be the time Tor taxing nerD
teas, often bitter teas, supposed to
be purifying and cleansing. BY their
flayors and heat these made Austen
ton from food easier, just as PLAIN
China tea does.
Regardless of religious practices,
springtime in the temperate zone has
also, and perhaps always been the
time for the blood modifying teas
every nation has them-which are as
numerous as the sands of the sea.
Many q person today has inherited
either a knowledge of how to make
these teas, or at any rate remnl-
brance of how they tasted-in the
days when the mother was family
cook and often a rather arbitrary doc
tor. And the old medical men also
prescribed many of these teas, thus
becoming dependent upon the coos
rather than the druggist for Their
brew, Druggists were not always near
enough, nor any better equipped III
herbs than the old fashioned home.
Probably you could not find a mid
die aged person among us today,
brought up in these United States,
who has not had to drink some sort
of herb tea in springtme, ana per
, haps take sulphur and moiasses De
sides. Have you ever drunk catuip
tea? / have. 1t was a punishment;
but It was supposed TO be 'nerVine
for children. And there were tne
pennyroyal teas and that thorough
wort (boneset) which was worse.
Perhaps you had to take these JUST
because your grandmother had gatu-
cred and dried the herbs for TINS part
OF the spring cleaning, that OF the
blood of her family.
These things were also much useu
in the civil war, when medicines wers
scarce. and the men who there learned
about them from their doctors con
tinued to believe in them and to teach
their families to do the sane.
Among these civil war drinks, sassa-
fras tea had a great place. especiaiiy
south of the Mason and Dixon line.
and there is in print much about It's
use and effects. To discover that
large number of persons are still de-
voted to sassafras tea you have put
In notice the number of little bunches
Of the bark that are sod each year
for tea and mead and sassafras jelly,
or sugared sassafras root. You would
he surprised at the number OF things
sassafras tea, reputed 10 be distinctly
AZ American institution, has been sup
posed to cure. -.
Men love the sweet and savory odor
Of This nectar, seemingly better than
women. II has been served for supper
In place of China tea, and boys have
Loved its odor as they came into the
house from play. Those most enthusi'
sstic. about Il have said that Ponce de
Leon was really looking for prev OF
aassafras tea when he came searching
for the fountain Of perpetual youth:
All troubles, including the trouoie OF
sge;ne. have been credited as disap-
pearing before it.
How 10 Make Sassafras Tea
Chin half a cup of sassafras bark
wash IL first-and pour over It three
ems Of boiling water end let 1t draw
for tan or fifteen minutes. Strain INTO
= serving not and serve hot or cold,
plain or sweetened.
diet Drinks or TisaBes. d,
The diet OF supposedly medicinal
djnks. also called tisanes, are as the
sands Of the sea in number. i never
AIN into tbe subject of these strange
t t,p w;tbont getting swamped, and the
information about them, as lar as l
have been able to run 1t down, S :.
tremely scattered. just es the person., =,
seem isolated today VINO percy, -
these things. For instance, orinn IL
bricr leaves has been used TOT cotus
and sore throats, and balm tea Ioe
fever. while II you look at the recipes
for "cups," drinks taken frankly lo5
their pleasure giving QUALITIES anu anu
composed Of wines and liquors anu
brandy and so forth, you VIII lin9
that balm with its lemon odor' anu
hore ee with oranges and lemons, go 70
the making Of these pleasant pever-
ages" rx
On, recipe have found for an nero
,u;ce drink certainly anticipates mod
Avn d;etetics and the vitamine discov-
srr II reads: Herb juice Is mace
by combining a variety of herbs ara
vegetables. such as the cndive, water
cress. lettuce, chervil, sorrel and white
beet. Use equal parts of the herbs or
vegetables desired and pound them IN
a mortar into a fine, homogeneous
nsste. Then press out or extract tie
mice. Mix four or five ounces OF lt
IN run OF chicken broth, and drink
n before breakfast. A spoonful of
lime sirup may be added to it. This
is drink that will cleanse the syS-
tenn we'll"
Note that this vegetable Juice is no.
cooked-cooking lessons and often de-
stroys the vitamine content OF vegHta-
bles-and that you can choose yoar
Combinations Of vegetables and then
modify this dose of bitter herbs with
a strip. =
You will find the above recipe in
"Harder's American Cookery" II
which are recipes for ,ther diet drinks,
including eight for "apozems", which
are concentrated tisanes. There is one
made of iceland moss or "lichen diet
drink" described as emollient, good for
the larynx. and so forth. Both the
coltsfoot flower and the root Of the
plant are used for making drinks, and
SO is the flower Of the mallow.
ApOzens.
The author OF these recipes saws
that "the method Of cooking them and
their mode of application must be
thoroughly understood" They are
used for cleansing the system" and
mostly have as basis either sarsa-
parilla or burdcck. Ono of the medi-
cal books taking up such things SAYS
sarsaparilla is not hood builder, but
the reverse. These ap0Zems have the
adjectives 'vermifuge." which recalls
the tansy tea of my childhood. "diure-
tic or experiment" "antiscorbutic."
"stomachic." "purgative," "astring-
emit"
=.