Honeysuckle Tea Time

I can still remember the first time my sister showed me the wild vine of Honeysuckle in our wooded backyard. She told me to grab the stamen and pull it out and taste it. There was a faint sweet taste and a fragrant colorful smell. The smell alone felt like sunshine and radiant glitter. The taste was more subtle but still so sweet!

Fast forward to present day- that same experience giving awesome sister of mine gave me a knowledge and a passion for foraging in the woods and wild around us in all that God created. Common, ordinary, everyday things we see and take for granted. Not in the Gladden house though. We grow our food, support local farmers, and forage for the edible goodness in our own backyards just to learn and experience. There are so many healthy benefits of these things too.

Honeysuckle health benefits:

- Detoxify the liver
- Heals respiratory tract infections
- Relieves digestive disorders
- Improves oral health
- Helps with Type 2 Diabetes
- Anti-inflammatory: aids in arthritis and autoimmune disorders
- Aids in skin conditions such as rosacea when used as an oil/ anti-aging benefits
- Aromatherapy: aids in relief of stress

Honeysuckle is quite abundant here in the South. It’s growing all over around our little lake right now. Collect the flowers. They can be used fresh or dried in a dehydrator. We used ours fresh. Free from a contaminated area.

For our tea and poetry time tonight, we used a Honeysuckle scented candle I received as a sample from the Flying Farm Candle co. To stay with the theme! Eric stuck with English Breakfast tea but Ellie and I indulged ourselves with this AMAZING tea!

The taste was not as bold or fragrant as the flower but it was certainly still sweet and very delicious!
I used fresh flowers. I put a large clump in a tea filter and let it steep. I also added some flowers in loose.

Ellie drank her tea so fast- she loves all the teas I have let her try but this one she chugged and threw down! She loved it so much she went and added a flower to everyone’s tea cup to be sure nobody would miss out on this deliciousness! Y’all gotta try it!

 “Let me smell it!”

“Mmm that’s yummy!!”