Linden Tea & our family’s “Witch’s brew” recipe

Cold season in my house growing up meant pots of linden tea simmering most of the time. In Turkey, linden tea is the go to flu fighting tea to drink when you get that first tickle of feeling sick.

When we would go to Turkey in the summer, stocking up on dried linden flowers and supplies were a must. My dad had his own concoction of ingredients he would gather at the spice bazaar: Linden Flowers with the leaves, cinnamon sticks, dried ginger, and cloves. 

When someone would get sick, he was in charge of the brew. First, he would take a stock pot, not a tea pot, and fill it with water. Then, he would add all some linden tea, a stick or 2 of cinnamon, about 1/2 dozen cloves, and a piece of dried ginger.

After bringing it to a boil, he would lower it to a simmer, cover it, and let it brew for about 1/2 hr before drinking any.

Neighbors began to come around a bit more often in the winter time, knocking on the door, and asking my dad if he could put together a little bag of supplies for them to brew at home. This stuff worked better to open the chest, reduce coughing, and help you heal faster than the over the counter theraflu!

If you live in Utah, you can harvest your own Linden tea. The trees are all over the Wasatch Front and bloom around the first week in june. You can smell the sweet blossoms in the air. So, just follow your nose and you can’t miss the trees. 

I have a huge on in my back yard, so you are more than welcome to come and harvest some from my yard.

When I harvest Linden tea, I take an old pillowcase and turn it inside out. Then, I cut full branchs of the linden tree including the flowers, leaves and bark. You will dry all of this because all the parts are medicine. Fill you bag, tie it closed and let it dry. 

Living in a drier environment has its benefits because this stuff dries up fast. The reason I have you turn your pillow cases inside out is becaus it is easier to extract the tea from the bag that way. The tea will get stuck in the seams of the pillowcase if you don’t do this and it’s a pain to clean. Trust me..I know!

Once dried, put it in a a sealed container and you are ready! 

So what does this actually do? 

• Linden Flowers, leaves and branches: to induce sweating for feverish colds and infections, to reduce nasal congestion, and relieve throat irritation and cough.
• Cinnamon: high in anti-oxidents, fights infections and inflammation, treats respiratory infections
• Cloves: antioxidants, kills bacteria, balances blood sugar levels
• Ginger: helps with nausea, eases respiratory infections, pain reliever, anti inflammatory