Posted on 03/02/2021 4:59:08 AM PST by mylife
What if you were surrounded by tea and didn’t know it? In an age where tea is the most consumed drink on the planet after water and is expected to become an $81.6bn global industry by 2026, the possibility of living among an endless supply of ready-to-be-picked, wild tea might seem like a far-fetched dream. But across large swaths of the southern United States, such a reality exists.
For those who know what to look for, what was once the most widely consumed caffeinated beverage in the Americas comes from a plant growing in plain sight, ignored by most, but deeply rooted deep in history and intrigue.
Yaupon (pronounced yō-pon), is a holly bush indigenous to the south-east United States and happens to be North America's only known native caffeinated plant. Once called "cassina" by the native Timucua tribe that lived in southern Georgia and northern Florida, and dubbed "black drink" by Spanish explorers (because of the tea’s dark hue), yaupon’s native environment spans the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico all the way to West Texas.
The leaves yield a yellow to dark-orange elixir with a fruity and earthy aroma and a smooth flavour with malty tones
According to research conducted by Dr William Merrill of the Smithsonian Institution, the shrub was consumed by almost every Native American tribe who lived among it. When picked, roasted and boiled, the leaves yield a yellow to dark-orange elixir with a fruity and earthy aroma and a smooth flavour with malty tones. As if orchestrated specifically for the mind and body, yaupon leaves' perfect ratio of stimulating xanthines such as caffeine, theobromine and theophylline release slowly into the body, providing a jitter-free mental clarity and an ease to the stomach.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
You get pretty cold in the winter there, don’t you?
No, they would never get off their collective butts.
If you find a smokable one, the gubmint will tax it to death, then outlaw it, then make it legal again to tax it some more.
If you find a smokable one, the gubmint will tax it to death, then outlaw it, then make it legal again to tax it some more.
Not as cold as Texas this year.
Israel is moderated temp-wise by the sea, but it’s extremely comparable to west Texas and the nearby mountain areas of NM.
Hey, its what Gubmint does...
The popular writer on edible wild plants, Euell Gibbons, who was not an expert in ethnobotany, believed the Europeans improperly assumed the black drink to be the Ilex vomitoria infusion, asserting that it was an entirely different drink made from various roots and herbs and did have emetic properties.
The popular writer on edible wild plants, Euell Gibbons, who was not an expert in ethnobotany, believed the Europeans improperly assumed the black drink to be the Ilex vomitoria infusion, asserting that it was an entirely different drink made from various roots and herbs and did have emetic properties.
You are correct. You do not want t eat the berries. Not from any hollie plant.
Exactly....I was just about to give the same warning. The Indians brewed it very dark (hence the Spanish name, black drink) and used it in religious ceremonies for “cleansing” purposes. It also caused a rapid heartbeat and hallucinations.
If you don’t get carried away and make it too strong, however, it’s a drinkable, black-tea like beverage, although it tastes a little too “leafy” for me.
I planted a couple in front of my house 20 years ago. They look good.
why didn’t Euell Gibbons tip us off years ago?
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He died of a heart attack before he could tell us.
I wasted all that time eating pine cones...
Either that or eat all the Doritos.
>> And...if kudzu contained THC...the South would rise again. <<
Or more likely, eat a pizza and fall asleep on the couch.
I wasted all that time eating pine cones...
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You ate the cones? The rest of us ate the nuts ...
Damn you Euell Gibbons!
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