_I love eating flowers, plus the aromatic seduction of roses make them my top favorite flowers to eat.
And today you lucky darlings I'm gonna tell you how to make an easy 1, 2, 3 rose cordial. All made with LOVE of course.
Yes, nice and simple:
What you will need are a bunch or fragrant roses, be it red or lavender they must be fragrant or your cordial will fall flat. The magic is in the aromatic rose, because first you will smell your cordial. A good, no better - a GREAT cordial caresses all the senses. Plus you want non-sprayed, organic roses. You're about to eat these flowers, you do not want any chemicals on, in, near your roses or you - for that matter. _Second you will need honey. Choose a local raw honey so you can benefit from the amazing healing qualities honey has to offer. Also choose a honey that doesn't have to strong of a flavor, because you want your roses to be the star. Next you will need Brandy. I really like Slivovitz, plum brandy. It doesn't have to be brandy, by the way. You could use another alcohol that's at least 80 proof. The brandy (alcohol) is needed to preserve the cordial.
[ It is possible to use a lot of sugar or honey to preserve this cordial, but I'm only gonna talk about an alcohol based cordial, sweet and simple. (comment or email me if you want to discuss non alcoholic versions). ]
What you will need:
1) a bunch of Roses
2) a lot of Honey
3) a bottle of brandy
See, easy as 1, 2, 3!
Pluck the roses at the peak of their fragrance. Some roses love to express their scent during morning hours, like lavender roses. Other roses, like red roses like a mid day sun. Pick the roses during the optimal fragrant hour, for the most optimal fragrant cordial. Gather the rose tops and lay out a clean cloth on your kitchen table and lay the roses face down, let them sit for a while. This let's the critters free and dehydrates the roses a bit, releasing the excess water. Now you don't want a dried out rose, you still want a fresh and fragrant rose.
After a while, you pluck each petal off (no stems or stamen) and place it into a wide mouth canning jar. Yes, only the petals. Cover the petals with honey leaving about an inch above the petals.
Now you need patience. Leave the honey and petals for a good long while at least a month. Shake the canning jar every once in a while to make sure your roses are submerged and why not add some loving thoughts into your rose infused honey, while you're at it. What happens is the honey absorbs the fragrance of the roses and the honey candies the roses.
After the long while has passed I pour brandy onto the honey rose mixture. How much brandy depends on how alcoholic/sweet I want the cordial. Honey will preserve the roses but adding brandy will preserve the roses and honey longer. Because after a while the honey will start to crystallize changing the flavor and texture of the rose honey. By adding an alcohol, like brandy you turn your infused rose honey into an alcoholic cordial.
Simple.
This cordial is sure to open your heart, lift your mood and transform your day for the better. Enjoy in a cordial glass with your loved ones.
♡
about a year ago i stopped washing my hair with traditional shampoo and conditioner. i read/watched several articles about toxins and hair stripping. so, i made a choice. i stopped using shampoo and conditioner. first, i tried just water - i found my hair full of build up and a grey gunk that turned out to be my own hair oils and whatever else my hair picked up in the urban city i live in... what to do, i wondered. after an astounding amount of research and hours of personal experimenting i found a natural way of cleansing my hair, without toxins. i use a few simple ingredients: - local eggs (for vegans substitute egg for flax seed blended with distilled water or herbal tea)
- vinegar (home brewed apple cider vinegar, made from local apples)
fyi my hair is curly and tends to be dry, or at least it used to be dry. ever since i stopped stripping my hair with over the counter shampoo my hair is a lot healthier from root to tip. egg whites are an amazing source of protein for the hair. so potent too much egg white can thicken the hair and cause it to become too heavy; causing the new hair to break at the shaft. at first i washed my hair with egg several times a week. until my hair started to feel crunchy the first signs of too much egg white. i tried only egg yolk, finding my hair to feel heavy and thin. after trial and error i found washing my hair with one whole egg every week and a half to be perfect for my hair.
i used to beat the egg then apply it in the shower to wet hair. then i tried experimenting with making a hole in the egg shell only letting egg white out gently massaging whites into my wet scalp. this technique thickens my new hair growth. then i break the shell open and massage the egg yolk into the ends of my hair. the fat in the yolk is a great conditioner. (remembering to wash in warm to tepid water, too hot and i could end up with scrambled eggs in my hair, again...) after the egg wash, i rinse with apple cider vinegar. the first time i used vinegar on my head i poured it straight out of the bottle. it stung and i smelled like a salad. after months of trial and error i found infusing apple cider vinegar with a few herbs and diluting didn't sting. my favorite is rosemary infused vinegar. it improves my scalp circulation and imparts a nice rosemary fragrance.
to make a diluted vinegar hair rinse i measure a spoonful of infused vinegar to a cup of distilled water (or herbal tea). generally i leave the vinegar rinse in my hair for a few minutes. the vinegar softens my hair and helps soften dead skin cells from my scalp. letting the vinegar set on my hair a while makes it easier to massage unwanted impurities out of my hair.
i cleanse my hair with vinegar more frequently then i do with egg. i also use a homemade hair balm to shape my curls or style my hair into loose waves. the no shampoo experiment has been a success for me, i don't think i will ever go back to commercially made shampoo.
+
for folks with oily hair try a spoonful of baking soda (aluminum free) in a cup of distilled water (or herbal tea) instead of an egg.
have you noticed folks getting a 2 week flu aka influenza? i have! resulting in antibiotics.
well, i have decided to make soup - for my family. i aim for health wealth and merriment! the holidays are coming and no one wants to be sick with pumpkin pie in their line of sight (yes, with real whipped cream).
looking into my apothecary i notice turkey tails, no not the thanksgiving kind - the fungus among us! that's right turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor), harvested right here in california, yes by me.
 turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) chicken mushroom soup
what i am going to need: - a pot
- knife & cutting board
- stove/fire source
- humor
+++ - hot water
- a drizzle of olive oil
- an onion
- 3 or 4 celery stalks
- a carrot or 2
- lots of garlic
- chicken, something with bones
- braggs (liguid aminos)
- a touch of cracked pepper
- a heaping dash of turmeric powder
- a couple sprigs of thyme
- juice of one lemon
- 4 antiviral mushrooms (in my case turkey tails)
i never really measure when i'm cooking, i simply trust spirit and throw things in. simmer the chicken (organic free range wings, the ones i stashed away in the freezer) and turkey tail fungi (Trametes versicolor) for about an hour and a half (sometimes i pick out a good movie to watch during this time), making sure the water doesn't boil away - adding a bit more water if necessary. after the hour and a half has passed i strain out the chicken and mushrooms. in the empty pot a drizzle of olive oil and i add chopped onion, carrots, celery and crushed garlic cloves and i saute for 5 minutes or so. pour over the strained broth and simmer that for a half an hour. during that time i shred the chicken and add it back to the simmering pot. when the onion is cooked turn off the heat. taste it and then add the braggs, pepper, turmeric, lemon juice and sprigs of thyme, let it sit covered - for 15 more minutes. serve with crusty bread drenched in garlic oil. fyi i don't eat the tough turkey tails, i strain them out, their medicinal value has been transferred to the broth. mushrooms in general need hot water to extract their healing constituents, that's why soup is the way to go, yum.happy eating your way to health!psturkey tail mushrooms are anti-tumor, anti-microbial (is anti-viral), and overall immune stimulating.
elderberry brandy elderberry decoction elderberry cloth filter
why elderberry?
another cold and flu herb ally. elderberries strengthen cell walls, helping to prevent virus' injecting their selves into your cells which multiply and cause illness.
elderberry cordial and brandy are tasty elixirs to help in the prevention of illness.
elderberry brandy
1 cup fresh elderberry
1 cups brandy
1 cup honey
or
1 cup fresh elderberry
2 cups brandy
add all ingredients together in a jar, let sit for a month, drink a tablespoon every day all winter long.
elderberry cordial
1 cup fresh elderberry
3 cups water
1 tblsp dry cinnamon powder
1 tblsp ginger (i used dry powder but you could use an inch or 2 of fresh)
1/2 tsp cloves (whole dry)
1/2 tsp star anise
1 cup honey
2 cups brandy
add fresh elderberries and water to a pot (pictured above i used my clay pot)
bring to boil, then turn heat down to simmer for 20 minutes
after 20 minutes add cinnamon, cloves and star anise to pot
simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, creating a *decoction
after 30 minutes add honey
simmer for 5 minutes, stirring thoroughly to incorporate the honey
remove from heat
strain through cloth (pictured above i used my v sieve/colander and an old sheet)
add brandy
jar and enjoy 1tblsp every day all winter long.
this is a wellness warming elixir, best warmed up.
*decoction: (herbs boiled down, reducing the liquid to make a strong tea/elixir)
what you will have is about
40% decotion
40% brandy
20% honey
strengthen your cells all winter long with elderberries, delicious.
yes, garlic.
powerful fragrant potent ally, garlic.
i could google the history of garlic, but you can do that for yourself.
instead i'll share my personal story.
i found the medicinal use of garlic when i worked at a hardware store. i worked with a mexican mom of two, who had deep old roots in mexican herbalism. she was kind and generous with her knowledge of old ways, as she called it. we would talk a lot about herbs between the nuts and bolts of our job.
this is an ode to her remedios (remedies).
when you are
warm to the touch with a hot ear
a clove of garlic slightly warmed up
just enough to loosen the oils
wrapped in a cotton ball and stuck in the bothered ear may help.
the idea is to keep it in until you taste garlic, which is about 2 hours.
i do this a couple times for three days. my experience is, garlic smell with much, improvement.
the garlic odor is the magic behind the herb.
i like to eat garlic too. especially during the first signs of sickness. it is important not to cook the medicinal properties out of your garlic. the idea is to preserve all of the garlic's healing properties. these powerful actions include antimicrobial, antibiotic and antiviral.
here are easy ways to enjoy garlic:
honey has natural healing qualities! not only is it soothing but it is also antibacterial.
garlic; crushed, minced, sliced or chopped. honey plus garlic equals a tasty spoonful, taken when there are signs of a cold.
i make a big jar of honey garlic and let it infuse and meld together. i eat it straight, add it to raw sauces, just off the heat veggies, on corn bread, rice, quinoa and whatever else might taste good.
garlic olive oil is also pretty useful too. chop up some garlic, add it to some of your favorite olive oil and voila you've got another tasty way to support your immune system.
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