Foraging Series - Huckleberry Leaf Tea

Blueberries.

I suppose there are people that don’t like blueberries. I’ve not met any of them.

I do know that a lot people will not buy them at the markets and stores. Not when a tiny pack of the things costs three or four bucks. That’s a price that we’ll not spring for. Our alternative to buying them is to grow our own blueberries. Edible landscaping. Something that looks good in the landscaping and is good for something other than eye-candy.

We have several bushes that are a cultivated variety and one that is some type of huckleberry. Of the two, where taste is concerned, I’ll take the huckleberry as a first pick. The berries are smaller than the cultivated blueberries. The leaves are also smaller.

The other noticeable difference is that the huckleberry bush isn’t affected by the fungus that causes spotting on the leaves of the cultivated varieties. Considering that our cultivated varieties have the fungal problem this late in the season, we are using the unaffected huckleberry leaves. Also, huckleberries grow wild and lend themselves well to foraging.

The berries are not only tasty.

These things are a powerhouse full of health attributes.

It is more than worth the time it takes to do some research on the blueberry/huckleberry subject. Not only on the berries. As healthy and tasty as the berries are … the leaves play the trump card and win the powerhouse game.

Here’s a few interesting facts about blueberry leaves. 

·         Contain 30 times more free radical absorbency than the berries.

·         Lowers plasma triglycerides that lead to high cholesterol and heart disease.

·        Lowers blood sugar.

·        Improves memory.

·        Improves eyesight.

This is an extremely short list. 

The long list is more than I care to include in a short blog.

The dried huckleberry leaves are on the left. The leaves on the right? Those are the subject of another foraging blog.

Study. Do the research. Glean the knowledge and make it your own.

Owning knowledge … like owning skills … is where the rubber meets the road. These are two areas where taking short-cuts is not the desirable route to take.

A tea can be made from the green leaves.

We don’t recommend using green leaves. The product is terribly bitter and requires A LOT of sweetener to mask the bitterness. The taste of the green-leaf tea, even with a load of sweetener, is still way below par.

Drying the leaves is an easy proposition and the dried leaves make a tea that is far superior to a tea made from the green leaves.

Forget using the dehydrator in the house.

Place a batch of picked leaves in a vehicle sitting in the sun. Voobah. What you have is a solar dehydrator that will do the job that needs doing. Don’t worry about spreading the leaves out thinly. Stir and fluff them a couple or three times to insure even drying.

A batch, in my truck here this time of year, is done in an afternoon plus a day. There’s no way a kitchen dehydrator can match the output of a vehicular solar dehydrator.

The dried leaves make a very doable tea that still has a noticeable slight bitterness. The leaves can be steeped like any other tea. They also do good as sun tea made in a mason jar on a sunny day.

The bitterness isn’t a bad thing. It is, in fact, a healthy thing. The slight bitterness is easily masked with a little spearmint and a touch of honey.