Calmate: my magical tincture for stressful times and Tincture How To.

I'm really trying to work on this more, get it cleaned up, post more regularly, the whole shebang. We'll see how long that lasts. Life has been pretty stressful and chaotic lately. Spring is a pretty emotionally destabilizing time for me, even though I'm excited about the emergence of green stuff, and love it when the weather finally warms up.

But I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, still working low-paying, high-stress and physical labor jobs, and still have an unsatisfying social life, but oh well. So do lots of us. Reading and thinking about (also eating) foodstuffs is really calming for me. It's one of the reasons I don't so much mind working in restaurants. I could talk food all damn day.

When I'm feeling like this, I try to get some sunshine, get some exercise (going for a long walk on a sunny day gets both these taken care of) eat better, and try to sleep better. I also take some of my favorite tinctures to help give me a little boost.

My top 4 tincture blends are as follows: immunity/winter wellness blend; sleepytime/gimpy sore muscle blend; sunshine and roses; and--of course--my calmate hysteria blend.

Calmate:
Passionflower
Catnip
Skullcap

Gimpy Sleepytime:
Valerian
Kava
Chamomile

Sunshine and Roses:
St. John's Wort
Lemon Balm
Rose petals

Two immunity blends I often take in conjunction with one another

Tasty Immunity:
Elder, peppermint, lemon balm, rosehips

Rooty Immunity:
Echinacea, astragalus, eleuthero, ginger

These are all shorter and sweeter type blends. I have a few lengthier recipes--which I will post in the future--but I like to try to keep it to 3 or 4 ingredients total. I also like to keep around a chamomile, and a catnip all by themselves.

How to tincture

It's really very easy. You just cover your herbs with alcohol. Higher proof, neutral alcohol is preferred, but I usually just use good ol' Gordon's Vodka. Everclear is great, but just so damn strong and gross. Some people use brandy, rum, or other darker spirits, but it all depends on what you are tincturing. 

There are a lot of great guides out there already, but it's just oh-so-easy. You want about 1:5 ratio for dried herbs and 1:2 for fresh herbs. That means one part herbs:remaining part mentruum (alcohol). 

So you put your herbs in a jar--I rinse an reuse all kinds of jars for this, mainly pickle jars because that is what I eat from jars the most--and then you fill that jar with alcohol. Done. Well, mostly. Then you wait. Just hide it somewhere relatively cool and void of light like a basement or closet and forget about it for at least 2 weeks and upwards of 6 for the ultra patient (or forgetful).

Hummus with variations

Hummus--like many of the food stuffs I make--is something I sort of do by "feel" and usually don't use standard measuring instruments to concoct. It's something so wonderfully simple that you can pretty much throw it all together and it'll turn out great. Recently, a coworker was raving about my hummus I made one day and requested an actual recipe, so I tried to standardize it. Feel free to play around: add more or less oil, tahini, or lemon, and double the batch if you want to keep some around for later or serve at a fancy event. 

I absolutely love the edamame and white bean variations.

Hummus

1 can chick peas, drained

4 cloves garlic (or more, I really love garlic)

2-4 TB olive oil

¼ cup tahini (or any nut butter: peanut, cashew or almond)

1 whole lemon or lime, squeezed (about 1 TB or so)

pinch cumin

pinch paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Blend it all up in a blender or food processor of some sort.

Healthy Variations:

Use cannellini beans, sub sage and thyme for the cumin/paprika, and omit the tahini for delicious white bean dip.

Use black beans, omit tahini, and add cilantro, ¼ cup chopped onions, and 2 chipotle pepper in adobo for black bean dip.

Use edamame, omit tahini, add ¼ cup green onions, parsley, 1 TB soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil for edamame spread. 

I love hot stuff, so I also add a jalapeno to my hummus variations as well.

Super duper syrups

Making a million syrups today! This is the basic process I use for making syrups. It's pretty much a sugary decoction. You can infuse all kinds of shit to spice up your alcoholic beverages, or even coffee and teas. Another tasty thing to do is add a tablespoon or so to a cup of tonic or club soda to make your own delicious soda. 

Let your imagination (and tastebuds) run wild: apple, blueberries, strawberry, lemongrass, cinnamon, etc.

In the summer, when honey is plentiful at the farmer’s markets, I often omit the sugar, and strain the liquids before adding honey at the very end. About 1 part honey to 2 parts ginger liquid.

Protip: don't just leave that on the stove unattended for an hour, you should really give it a peek every 15 minutes, because certain things (looking at you, elderberries) can make you lose a shitload of liquid reeeeaaal fast. If you don't have a large quantity brewing, or if you have the heat on too high, you will evaporate all of your liquids before you know it and be furiously pissed (unless you are less angered by kitchen mistakes than I).

Basic recipe:

I usually do a half batch, and let it go 30-45 min, checking periodically, alternately don’t add sugar, then after straining, add to honey 1 part honey to 2 parts liquids.

1-2 inch chunk of fresh ginger*

4 cups water

2 cups sugar

pinch salt

Chop up the ginger into smallish pieces, place into a saucepan and add the water, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then put the heat on low, and let it simmer for about an hour. Give it a peek every 15 minutes, it might need as little as 30-45 minutes. Use your best judgement.

Let it cool before straining through a mesh sieve, or perhaps some cheesecloth. Store in the refrigerator. It should last about a month.

Add a few dried chilies (I did this and it was great) to give it a spicy kick. 1 TB of mint or basil would also be lovely. Just try it! It’s pretty darn easy and great, and sugar is quite cheap.

*depending on what tasty treats you are using, you might need anywhere from 1 TB -1 cup of plant matter