Relaxing at Home

Tea Time 

by Antoine Emil Plassan, (France) 1817-1903

Relaxing at home sounds simple, but it is easy to get too busy to take time to sit and collect your thoughts. To ease tension and tiredness, think back to a time when you were the most relaxed and happy. Replicate the things that you were doing in those days that gave you sublime feeling of contentment. Tea time might have been one of them. There was a time when taking tea was supremely important to the home maker. Today it is not a common custom, and so we must make a special effort to remember to stop and take tea. Those few moments can be relaxing and restoring and extremely luxurious.

The blackberry patch yielded a few ripe berries for blackberry tea. I am going to show one way of making this wonderful, health-promoting drink.

The berries were in various stages of ripeness, so I just took the black ones, which were very sweet, and left the others for later. The way to tell if a berry is ripe and sweet is that it will easily come off the vine when you pick it. 

I picked about a cup of berries for the pot of tea I was going to make.

First, fill the stove-top kettle, or tea kettle or a saucepan full of coldest water from the tap and bring it to a boil. Pay no attention to the noise the kettle makes, because sometimes it sounds like it is boiling but it is not. When steam comes out of it, and lifting the lid reveals a rolling boil, it is ready to pour. While it is boiling, you can get the berries ready for tea. 

You will need a fork to mash the berries, a tea pot and a strainer. This one fits nicely inside the tea pot.

Mash the berries to the consistency of a puree, making sure every berry has been crushed.

Insert the strainer into the tea pot. If you don't have this kind of strainer, put a tea strainer type of spoon over the top of the pot. 

Pour the blackberry puree into the mesh strainer.

Add boiling water from the kettle, filling your teapot as full as you want it. This berry puree makes a strong tea.

Replace the teapot lid on top of the strainer and let the berries steep in the hot water a few minutes, or until the water has turned a beautiful red color.

Lift the strainer and allow any liquid to drain, and then remove the strainer and replace the teapot lid.

Pour yourself a fragrant cup of blackberry tea. If the blackberries are ripe and sweet, no additional sweetener is needed. You can also do the same thing with strawberries or raspberries.  

Experiment with the flavor by adding a drop of honey or a few grains of raw washed sugar cane. Raw sugar,  has a wonderful aroma and taste, like molasses, only better.  It is sometimes labeled "turbinado" on the package, or "muscovado" or "demerara". Each one is slightly different in texture, taste and aroma and can be found in the grocery store or at a whole foods market.   This blackberry tea stands on its own, however, with not much need of sweetening, however, once fruit of any kind has been heated, it becomes more acidic, and need of additional sweeteners.

10 Health Benefits of Blackberries

While at their peak season, indulge in blackberries for a nutritious snack or dessert. One cup of fresh blackberries has 62 calories, 1 gram of fat, 15 carbohydrates, 8 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein and only 1 mg of sodium. Here are the top 10 health benefits of eating blackberries:

1. Blackberries are one of the top ten foods containing antioxidants.

2. Blackberries are packed with polyphenols helping to prevent cancer and heart disease.

3. Blackberries are filled with anthocyanins (antioxidants which give blackberries their deep purple color) which help in memory retention and the risk of hypertension.

4. Blackberries are said to strengthen blood vessels, help fight heart disease and help improve eyesight.

5. The high tannin content of blackberries help tighten tissue, relieve intestinal inflammation, and help reduce hemorrhoids and stomach disorders.

6. Ohio State University found that blackberries may protect against esophageal cancer, a cancer caused by gastric reflux disease.

7. Blackberries have shown to protect against other types of cancers. They contain phytoestrogens (plant estrogens), a compound believed to play a vital role in preventing breast and cervical cancer.

8. Blackberries are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Manganese and fiber.

9. The high fiber content of blackberries help reduce risk of intestinal disease and the risk of developing diabetes.

10. Blackberries are a healthy food choice that kids and adults love. They are a great way to refuel after a hard workout and help aid in fighting obesity.

If you do not have your own blackberries growing, it is worth the price to buy a bush or two and plant them in a pot or in your yard somewhere. If they will not grow in your area, it is worth the price to buy them in frozen packages from your grocery store.