Coffee and My Calamitous Affair, Revisited
Dandelion Coffee jar on my front porch in Northern NY, USA
In August of 2014 I wrote a post on Coffee and my calamitous affair with it. Refresh your memory here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/7/19/my-calamitous-love-affair-with-coffee
Moving forward a few months and seasons:
April 19th, 2015: My calamitous affair with coffee has continued, on & off. Who can resist the smell, the taste, the sensation in the mouth, throat, and belly? Ah, so tasty, warm, and soothing (well, soothing until the caffeine hits my system exactly 15.2 seconds after the first sip!).
I have tried many, many coffee substitutes and I have to say all may have been tasty in one aspect or another but all have never, ever, replicated the coffee experience (caffeine jitters aside, of course!). One has to enjoy them on a different level and not be thinking of them as coffee or you will be utterly disappointed.
On our family trip to Jamaica, April 2015, I find the most amazing, tasty, and coffee like drink ever: Sunburst's Products Dandelion Coffee. I picked up a jar at the Kingston Airport as we were preparing to depart Jamaica. I had no idea what I was buying as I obviously had not tried it. My thought was this: "If this stuff is even remotely tasty, it will help with my detox off the Blue Mountain coffee that I drank every morning at 6 AM. Seriously, despite my calamitous relationship with coffee - caffeine, what person in their right mind is going to say no to Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee? When in Jamaica, do as the Jamaicans do! (Thank You Mr. White at Great Huts Ecological Resort in Boston Bay, Jamaica. What a great man he is, greeting me every 6 AM with a "Good Morning Miss Paula, the coffee is ready. Where is Eli? I bet Jake is still sleeping!" All words said with the kindest twinkle in his eye. Mr. White was the person, while off work duty, he jumped to fix me up with a local remedy poultice to soothe my bee stung foot. Hugs to Mr. White for making awesome Blue Mountain coffee every AM and your sincere Jamaican kindness!)
So now I am home and must detox from coffee OR:
- put up with caffeine side effects every day
- suffer the caffeine withdrawal headache for a day or two
I opt for the wean down off coffee detox plan:
- 1st morning: 3/4 coffee, 1/4 dandelion coffee
- 2nd morning: a 1/2 & 1/2 blend
- 3rd morning: 3/4 dandelion and 1/4 coffee
- 4th morning: 100% dandelion coffee in my cup
Here is what I found upon brewing the dandelion coffee:
- smelled awesome, very coffee like
- looks dark and rich, how I prefer my coffee
- let's taste the stuff! I was not disappointed but pleasantly surprised! Dandelion Coffee is by far the best "substitute" I have ever tasted. I think, if I was given a cup and not told that it was not real coffee, I would not know and believe I was drinking coffee! I would soon be curious as to why the caffeine effects were not quickly kicking in.
When my current jar gets low, I will be ordering more and hoping the product becomes easy to find here in the USA. http://www.sunburstproducts.com/our-products/
Got Seasonal Allergies Healing Hint:
If seasonal plant and pollen allergies tend to drag you down, try this:
- 1/4 tsp. of raw, local honey every AM & PM. The honey must be cold extracted from the comb to preserve the properties that will ease your allergy symptoms. If the comb was heated up, as this makes it so much easier to extract the sticky honey, the heat cooks the enzymes, nutrients, and immune healing factors that help to ease seasonal allergies. Sometimes the challenge with this is stopping at 1/4 tsp. Think of it as mind-body-soul healing medicine where truly more is not always better!
- Stinging nettles. Most healers recommend freeze dried nettles in capsule form (You can find Ecclectic Institute's freeze dried nettles at Nature's Storehouse, Canton, NY). If you have stinging nettles around you, consider yourself fortunate, and indulge in your healing wild garden's bounty. Please be considerate of the plant and leave plenty for re-growth and to prevent soil depletion. With your nettles: make tea, make pesto, gently stir fry or steam.
My quart size bottle of medicine! This jar lasts a very long time. Local, raw honey is widely available in Northern, NY. Check farm stands, the Potsdam Food Coop, Nature's Storehouse in Canton, Martin's Farm Stand, and Garden Share's Local Food Guide for more local sources.
Burdock Root
Ah, burdock, that annoying plant that sticks those prickly balls on clothing after a romp in the woods and fields. This plant, that creates burr seeds, is a healing blessing, despite those barbed 'lil balls!
As a kid, I fell into a large clump of burdock plants while romping in the fields. Those burrs make an amazing mess in long hair! Surprisingly, as an adult, I do not avoid them.
Burdock can be utilized in a number of herbal remedies to aid in digestion. The root is bitter, stimulating the liver, and therefor aids in digestion, enhances absorption of nutrients, and supports your whole digestive tract and colon with the elimination of wastes.
Burdock root, along with dandelion and nettle, are amazing, healing herbs to use in liver conditions. The liver plays a huge role in removing toxins from your blood, producing bile to digest dietary fats, metabolizing hormones to maintain hormone balance in your body, stores excess carbohydrates, in addition to many, many other functions.
Nourish your liver and heal many "dis - ease" symptoms. Nourishing the liver is useful in: skin conditions, liver conditions (obviously), hormone imbalances, allergies, infertility, headaches, migraines, digestive problems, chronic gas, constipation....
Need help with herbs for healing? Give me a call. As an herbalist, I love to help with herbal healing! pyoumell@gmail.com
Why do I tell you this? I love burdock. It makes a yummy tea, it is fun in soups and stews, and I just added a pile of it (grated) to my next batch of fermented veggies. I am curious to see what burdock will add to the final fermented product's flavor!
The brown grated veggies on the top are burdock.
This is a pile of burdock roots, graciously given to me by Dan Kent of Kent Family Growers. He knows I love burdock! I have used over half of my burdock gift already. My liver is feeling ready for spring and pollen season!
On fermented veggies: I asked Steve, of The Cheese Maker, if cheese cultures could be used in enhancing the fermentation of veggies. This kind man did a 'lil research and got right back to me.
Our conversation via emails:
Me: Can any of the cultures you sell be used as a sauerkraut starter? Thanks, Paula
Steve: I'll also do a little research and let you know what I find out.
Me: Thanks!
Steve: Hi Paula: Some research I found on Wikipedia and other scientific sites show that some of the same species of bacteria that make cheese are similar to those that make sauerkraut, though the sub species are different. I'm not a biologist, so I do not know how this will affect the flavor of the kraut. Only way is to make a small batch and see how it turns out. As long as the pH is similar in the end product, it is at least safe to eat. The below link is a culture which has similar bacteria, though not sub species. If you make a test batch, let me know what you find out.