365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Tonic
Day 314: It took seven or eight years to establish a colony of Hydrastis canadensis sufficient to supply me with a couple of quarts of my favourite summer tonic, Goldenseal tea. Each plant bears only two leaves, so I only harvest the tips (and that, sparingly). The infusion must not be boiled, but rather should kept just off simmer for about twenty minutes. The resultant tea is rather bitter and takes some getting used to, but it is an excellent thirst-quencher and quite refreshing. I have never used the berries for tea, preferring to let them drop to the ground where hopefully, they may produce another Goldenseal plant, although its primary reproduction comes from underground runners. The roots are saffron yellow, and the origin of the plant's other common name, "Yellow Puccoon." However, several other unrelated plants are also known as "puccoon," nearly all of which have been used over the ages to produce red and yellow dyes.
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