Farmgirl read my post about eating local for the month of August, in which I confessed I'd probably keep drinking my morning cup of Twinings tea, even though it's from well outside Marin County."How about a little mint tea from a pot on your patio?" she suggested.
Little did she know. I've been harvesting mint leaves for the past two years (whenever there are enough remaining after the mojitos). Hack off a few stems, pull the leaves off, strew them on a cookie sheet for a few hours in the sun... (I save the dried stems for impromptu incense, too. So hippy-dippy.)
I replied to Farmgirl that I also save little aborted Meyer lemons, and dry them for tea as well. My lemon tree produces far more little fruitlets than it can actually support on its branches, and it sensibly allows many of them to turn yellow and fall off. Some reach about a half-inch in length, and I harvest 'em, slice 'em thinly, and dry them in the sun too.
What a blend!
(Beloved husband and co-cook wondered what we could do about caffeine during the month of August. Does it say anywhere in the rules we can't stir a No Doz pill into the brew? Better yet, I'm sure there's a local meth lab somewhere within 100 miles... Kidding!)
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Well, I just finished leaving you a comment on a different post and before leaving hit "refresh" for the heck of it. Voila! Brand new post and it starts with my name! Wow. How cool is that?
That tea sounds great. Love the baby lemons. I bought a little "garden mint" plant this spring at the garden club plant sale, and it is going crazy. I really need to make some tea.
I tried growing several types of potted citrus several years ago, but it was a diaster. A very pricey disaster. At least the two $20 limes were really tasty. . . :)
P.S. Caffeine? Chocolate! I know there used to be a See's candy at Northgate. That's local, right? :) (No See's in Missouri, sniff, sniff.)
Beloved husband and co-cook used to rag me badly for the three or four $5 tomatoes I grew on the deck in Mill Valley one summer. This was before I discovered wheeled platforms to roll the pots around on.
Tonight we're baking a tomato tart with Black Princes.
You know what's at Northgate? (Besides See's -- mmm.) Orange Julius! Hey, that's local!
:)
Ames:
The lemonlet is in a plastic tub! It's just over a year old now, and has already survived a move in the back of a Honda from old deck to new patio. You sure you couldn't find room for a 5-gallon pot? (I admit the tree is a little annoyed with me right now because I've put off repotting it in a slightly larger tub.)
I know of a chef in San Anselmo who's growing kaffir limes on her back porch! Try.
I can't go without my tea either.
No way!
But part of my eat local policy is that nothing already in the pantry goes to waste for the sake of eating local.
I am not going to buy new olive oil til we finish the old one (a french brand fred bought in bulk a while back that he loves)
I have enough English tea to last me a very long time. I am not going to waste it.
In the future when the oil runs dry - then I will consdeir placing it with the local stuff.
In the meantime - absolutely no waste!
I prowled the tea aisle in Whole Foods today (actually we prowled all the aisles, scoping out the locality-ness of beloved staples; will post soon). Found a tea company in Sebastopol with a variety called Pacific Coast Breakfast!! I crossed my fingers, but nope: it's Asian import, blended here.
Also, guilty confession: I have multiple bottles of oils. I think I'm enough of a "taster" to choose whichever oil for whichever dish... Probably deceiving myself. :( But it surely doesn't go to waste. I bathe in that stuff.
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