Reprinted from The Packet, July 23, 2018
by Lester Green
South West Arm hikers explore the barrens for ingredients
GOOSEBERRY COVE, N.L. — Move over Red Rose™, look out Tetley™, there is a new kid brewing on the block: Newfoundland Wild Teas.
Labrador Tea flower displayed in a jar at the gazebo.
All one has to do is collect and identify the correct plants, take them home and properly dry the harvest. You can also add taste by using the peels of citrus fruit. Just add boiling water and steep for several minutes and, there you have it, your own tea.
It was an overcast, calm Saturday morning when a group of individuals gathered at the Blow-Me-Down path in Gooseberry Cove, Trinity Bay, to search for that perfect cup of wild tea from nature’s botanical garden.
Under the guidance of Michael Savard, an amateur botanist and forager, the group started their search by climbing Jack Baker’s hill to identify various wild plants.
Savard explained that the leaves and roots of the plants are both edible and, when steeped or boiled, can make a perfect cup of wild tea; good enough to even make our distant British cousins a wee bit jealous.
Some of the plants identified on the barrens overlooking the rugged coastline of Trinity Bay included Northern Wild Raisin, Creeping Snowberry, Mint, Wild Cranberry, Red Clover and the well-known Labrador Tea plant, just to name a few. Plant stakes were placed in the ground to help identify the plants for those who hike the trail in the future.
Several stops were made to marvel at the beauty of Heart’s Ease Beach, a tombola that offered a place for drying codfish by our ancestors many years ago. We could only imagine how these early settlers scavenged these barrens for the same plants, not only for nutritional antioxidants teas but for other medicinal purposes.
Viv Seward commented on the vitamin C content of various wild berries that could easily replace store-bought vitamin C fruits.
Waiting at the end of the trail was Michael Johnson with a kettle of boiling water, mugs and a sample of Labrador tea that he had collected and prepared. The mixture contained a number of other ingredients including ground citrus peel to give the tea a slight citrus taste. Judging by the looks on the faces in the group, we had found the right setting and the perfect place to sip on a cup of Wild Labrador Tea.
When asked about the number of local plants that could be used for teas, Savard said the barrens we walked across contained at least 10 plants that could be collected and dried.
The waters of Trinity Bay were calm as we scanned the surface for breeching whales and watched the speedboats racing around the cod fishing grounds on Heart’s Ease Ledge as we sipped our tea.
Later that day the harbour of Southport became the setting for a tea party. Gathering at the gazebo, folks could sip on teas and take home samples collected and dried by Michael Johnson and Peggy Hogan a few weeks earlier.
The menu included: Labrador tea, Red Raspberry tea, Orange Juniper Mint tea, Triple Blueberry tea, and Wild Strawberry tea, just to name a few.
People were pleasantly surprised to discover the taste and the benefits of the local plants that contained more antioxidants than the berries produced by the plant. Expressions of surprise and nods of approval could be observed by people who sipped on various teas.
As for the coffee industry, they may need to start looking over their shoulder with the introduction of Dandelion coffee. It was produced from the dry, roasted roots of the dandelion plant and served fresh, compliments of the Traditional Paths Interest Group. Find them on Facebook.
Advertising sign for the afternoon sip of tea at Southport
