Tumeric Spice Tea

This morning I included turmeric root from our local farmers market in my chai  ☕ tea. Turmeric, which looks like ginger but is a brilliant orange like sweet potatoes, is known as a powerful detox and good for digestion in Ayurvedic medicine. I discovered tumeric milk ages ago at Hugo's restaurant in Studio City. Since then Greg and I have been making tumeric milk and our own blends using the dried powder with fennel seeds, cardamon and fresh ginger or variations on that theme. Healing foods, just like healing scents, are vibrant and add to our vital life force.

Now that I’ve found a source for the fresh roots I’ll be substituting those for the dried powder and also adding it to our smoothies.

For the tea this morning I gathered fresh tumeric and ginger roots, seeds of fennel, cumin and cardamon.

I then peeled the tumeric and ginger and grated them using my ginger grater from Sur la Table. I kept the peels since my friend and local nutritionist Hagit Ammer of Kitchen Rejuvenation made me realize how important and nutrient rich they are.

Next I opened up the cardamon pods and placed them into my mortar for some gentle grinding along with the fennel and cumin seeds.

It then occurred to me that vanilla would be a nice addition. Due to my work as a botanical perfumer I usually have vanilla pods on hand. For making a tincture and this tea I cut the ends off a pod, sliced the them length wise, cut them into inch sized pieces and then added it to the mixture.

All the ingredients were put into the infuser of my glass tea press which I then poured hot, filtered water over. I used the tea throughout the day adding an Indian black tea in the morning and later drinking it straight up.

My recipe was inspired by Hugos, our own blends and Feasting at Home, a beautiful blog by Sylvia Fountaine.

Tumeric Spice Tea

Ingredients:
1 Quart boiling, filtered water
1-2 Tablespoons grated, fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon grated fresh turmeric ( or ½ -1 tsp  ground)
1-2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds (or ground)
1-2 teaspoons fennel seeds (or ground)
1-2 teaspoons cardamon (or ground), I used four pods, removing the seeds.
1 sliced vanilla bean

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a glass tea press, infuse for at least 5 minutes before plunging. Refill the tea press one more time with boiling water. Ideally drink a total of two quarts in a day. If you do not have a tea press simmer the ingredients on low for about 5 minutes in a pot, then strain before drinking.

Enjoy and please share this post.

The Spice Melange

As Summer comes to a close the time of the flowers ends as the cycle of spice and wood enters the landscape. Here in the Northern hemisphere, although the Jasmine sambac and Plumeria are still blooming in the garden, signs of the seasonal shift are upon us. The oaks now have their acorns and the native plants are slowly awakening from their summer slumber.

Yesterday I made Aurora solid for several orders that had come in, today I am making Sierra Solid Gold, both of these are spice perfumes. Aurora is a floriental, with a rich heart of flowers shaded with subtle spice notes, similar to the scent of a carnation. Sierra Solid Gold has much more prominent spice notes with resins, vanilla, frankincense and myrrh, no flowers. To my nose, Sierra Solid Gold embodies what I associate as the smell of Christmas.

Observing what fragrances are trending in my sales is always fascinating, sometimes its due to a write up somewhere or a customer that has infected all her friends with a specific perfume. The latter took place about a month ago with Aumbre.

The popular fragrances over the last two weeks have been mostly those with prominent vanilla notes, especially Blanc followed by Page 47 with Lyra and Cimbalom on the tale end. Just before the Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco I had made a large bottle of the synergy for Blanc, that synergy is almost gone. (gasp!) I believe Blanc may overtake GreenWitch in the overall best seller position.

Another interesting trend I've noticed is that people are asking for subtle fragrances. Some perceive Hedera helix, GreenWitch, Cimbalom and Vera as "too strong", interesting huh? This indicates that there are just as many people interested in botanical perfumes that are subtle as those looking for superb longevity.

My daughter Eve heads back to college this coming Sunday, which makes me very sad but also will open up more focus time on all these projects I've got in the cauldron. Ideally I'd like to take this week off, however that's not going to happen, spice production must not stop. Can you tell we watched Dune recently? Here's an interesting bit of historic movie trivia regarding the film adaptation of Dune and what it inspired, How the Failed Dune Movie You Never Saw Gave Birth to Prometheus.

Images: Anise postcard collage, Aurora solid perfume photo and Vanilla bean photo by Roxana, Dune movie poster image via 80's Movie Posters