Another of what I call a 'crowd sourced' recipe. The original was called elderberry cider even though it contained no actual cider or apples or anything similar and it contained different spices. I hit up Google for complimentary herbs and spices to elderberry and came up with a list then brewed it up as more of a tea than cider because, again, there's no apples or apple juice or anything else in here.
You'll Need The Following;
Please note that I have food-grade whole herbs and you should not use rose petals and lavender from any source that isn't food-grade because it may be unsafe to ingest. If you can't get whole herbs you can use powdered, but it'll make the tea muddy looking.
First step - put your water and sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil. Make sure you stir it every so often or the sugar will burn all along the bottom.
While you're waiting for the water to boil measure out your dry herbs and mix them together. I dumped mine in straight up, but if you don't want to strain the mix/don't like things floating in it you can use a coffee filter tied with twine or some other similar method to basically make a tea bag to put all the dried stuff in.
Once your water is boiling put in your herbs however you like and the orange peels. That might set your water back a bit so go ahead and let it all come to a boil again. Then let it all boil like that for 10 minutes.
Once it's done boiling either remove your bag or strain your mixture. I have a pasta strainer that does a good job of getting most of it, and what little remains is not terrible to deal with when drinking the mixture.
As soon as it's been strained drink and enjoy. Leave it for a bit so you don't burn your mouth, of course, and yes it is meant to be that color. If you need more sugar try adding honey instead, it doesn't dilute the flavor profile while covering up some of the spice flavor because yeah, this is strong.
This is a drink that's good hot or cold, my roommate actually likes it cooler and I like it warm. Like I said this is very strong so it might need a bit of extra sweet if you don't like your tea spicy, but other than that man it's amazing. With the recent cold spell we've had around here it was a nice treat to help ward that away, and really good with cookies too. Plus it's not difficult to make at all :D
All pictures here were taken by me specifically for this post. I have been a home cook for over a decade, and any questions or comments about this recipe are encouraged!
If you like this content resteems, upvotes and comments are much appreciated <3
