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| a jar or teapot, cover and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain and serve. To brew a decoction (recommended for most bark and roots), place the herb in a covered pot with water, bring just to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, let stand an additional 5 minutes. Strain and serve. To brew a beverage-strength tea, use about 1 teaspoon dried herb per cup of water; to brew a medicinal strength tea, use 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon dried herb per cup of water. Double or triple these quantities for fresh herbs. For convenience, brew 4 cups (I quart) tea at a time. A pot or jar of tea brewed late in the day can be left overnight before straining; in fact, overnight brewing is, recommended by many herbalists, especially for medicinal teas. Most teas can be kept at room temperature for one day or refrigerated for several days without spoiling. |
| Because medicinal teas often have a bitter, unpleasant taste, especially for the American palate, which has been trained to prefer sweet and salty flavors, many people sweeten their teas with sugar, honey or concentrated flavors. While nutritionists who study arthritis frown on the use of sugar and honey, they do approve blackstrap molasses because of its iron content, important to arthritics who are warned not to take iron supplements. For calorie-free sweetening, the recommended herb is stevia, a plant that thrives in desert climates and which is used around the world as a sugar substitute. Stevia does not taste exactly like sugar, but a pinch can give a |
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