Sea-buckthorn tea
Hot orange tea of crushed sea-buckthorn berries, ginger and honey, for the first cold mornings.
Every October the sea-buckthorn bushes along the Talas river turn orange, and the old women come down with buckets and gloves, because the berries are small, sticky and very sour. My chong apa brought them home by the kilo and the whole apartment smelled of oranges and mountain air. She drank this tea at the first sign of a cold, and made us drink it too.
This year I bought my first berries at the bazaar around the corner and carried them up four floors, and Aruu pulled a face at the sourness until the honey went in. The tea is the colour of a sunrise, and a good thing to hold in your hands when the Talas Alatau wakes up with new snow.
What you'll need
Sea-buckthorn tea
Hot orange tea of crushed sea-buckthorn berries, ginger and honey, for the first cold mornings.
Ingredients
servingsInstructions
Method
- Rinse the berries. If frozen, thaw them for 10 minutes. Crush them in a bowl with a potato masher or the back of a spoon until most are burst.
- Put the crushed berries, water, ginger and cinnamon in a pot. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then simmer for 10 minutes. Do not boil hard.
- Add the thyme, turn off the heat, cover and steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing the berries to get all the juice. Let it cool for about 5 minutes, until pleasantly hot but not scalding.
- Stir in the honey. Pour into glasses, add an orange slice to each and serve hot.
With love from my kitchen in Talas,Jibek