Anise Hyssop

Anise Hyssop in our lakescape

One of the blogs that I follow is Healthy Green Kitchen. Today's post was about preserving herbs. I know all about preserving herbs by either drying them or freezing them in water (ice cubes) and even by steeping them in vinegar or oil.

But there are several methods that I've never thought of including preserving them in sugar or salt or honey, for goodness sake! So I'm reading this blog and I notice that she preserves anise hyssop. In honey. It makes sense. It has a licorice smell which would make a yummy honey.

We have TONS of anise hyssop in our lakescape! When we first planted that lake garden the anise hyssop grew so fast that I thought it was a weed and pulled it out. The leaves are sort of weed-like and the plant grows quite tall. It isn't ugly - it's just sort of weedy looking until it flowers.

So I Googled anise hyssop and this is what I learned. Both the leaves and the flowers are edible. Here's what you can do with anise hyssop:

• Makes a beautiful cut flower (That I knew)
• Potpourri
• Tea
• Flavor sugar or muffins (1/2 cup chopped fresh flowers) or cookies
• Flavored honey (You could flavor agave nectar, too, I'll bet...I love agave nectar)
• Use the flowers as a garnish for iced tea

I've read that a few Native American tribes used anise hyssop in cooking and in medicines. For example, the Cheyenne would make a tepid tea to relieve coughing from chest colds. The Dakota and Omaha tribes used it in cooking and the Iroquois prepared a poultice for burns and a wash to relieve the itching of poison ivy.

The Chippewa used it as a protective charm. They say to plant it by your back door or in a back border. It's in our lakescape which is about as far back as you can go without actually being in the lake!

I'm thinking about preserving herbs, this year. Maybe make some flavored oils or vinegars. And I really ought to make some anise honey. It will come in handy when we both have sore throats this winter...since we're not going to be gone all winter the odds are that we'll get SOMEthing.

Yeah, I think I'll do that. It takes about a month to brew.

More later.