We made some hard candy the other day, and it turned out pretty well - if I do say so myself :-). I just used the typical horehound candy recipe, substituting concentrated elderberry juice (and some lemon and ginger) for the horehound tea. Yesterday I tried some other herbs in the recipe. Not *quite* as many as ricola, but close. That one is a little soft and more like a hard taffy. Dangerous to fillings, but oh-so-good!Of course I will continue to cut and dry the various mints and berries, the holy basil and the passionflower - but other than some burdock, echinacea, and dandelion roots - the big stuff is already tinctured or made into teas.
In fact, right now you will find on our site the following tinctures:
Blue Vervain, Boneset, Chamomile, Chickweed, Echinacea, Elderberry, Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, Mimosa, Motherwort, Oat Seed, Passionflower, St John's Wort, Stinging Nettles, Vitex, and Holy Basil/Albizzia BLEND.
For this week - through Saturday, Sept. 5 - orders placed that are over $30 will get an ounce of elderberry candy thrown in for free!
I will probably go looking for some goldenrod soon, but am thinking about making that into a candy - stay tuned for info on that - lol.
In just 2 short weeks we'll be working on another issue. It will bw the November/December issue, and we have a group article that addresses favorite remedies for colds and flus. If you are a blog reader and you'd like to contribute to the printed magazine, you can answer this question with your favorite remedy, the recipe for it, and your name and website.
Otherwise, it is a great issue to consider advertising your herbal wares!
Off to go play in the soap studio today with Maryanne. Seems like forever... but that's only because the shelves are getting so bare!
