TimT
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 26/9/13
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Right, so on the cards early next year is a proper medieval style gruit. Gruits, the flavourings for medieval brews, were, as I'm sure you know were a mixture of several herbs - the base was usually yarrow, bog myrtle, and marsh rosemary. Also usually with other herbs thrown in, like Mugwort, Chamomile, etc
I've got Mugwort aplenty - it's hanging up in the shed, and is a relatively easy to buy herb. Yarrow, easy - it's growing in the garden and you can buy it in a few places. Bog Myrtle - found one source, albeit on the other side of the world (incidentally, I'd love to find a local distributor of the plant and grow a bog myrtle here).
But the final ingredient in a gruit - the Marsh Rosemary - is really stumping me.
You might find it being discussed under these names:
Marsh rosemary
Wild rosemary
Labrador tea
Ledum palustrum (its Latin name).
I'm buggered if I can find a source for this one. Any leads, folks?
The thing that really gets me about it is I'm pretty sure I've seen the name - Labrador tea - floating around on a label here or there - but just can't remember where.
HELP!
I've got Mugwort aplenty - it's hanging up in the shed, and is a relatively easy to buy herb. Yarrow, easy - it's growing in the garden and you can buy it in a few places. Bog Myrtle - found one source, albeit on the other side of the world (incidentally, I'd love to find a local distributor of the plant and grow a bog myrtle here).
But the final ingredient in a gruit - the Marsh Rosemary - is really stumping me.
You might find it being discussed under these names:
Marsh rosemary
Wild rosemary
Labrador tea
Ledum palustrum (its Latin name).
I'm buggered if I can find a source for this one. Any leads, folks?
The thing that really gets me about it is I'm pretty sure I've seen the name - Labrador tea - floating around on a label here or there - but just can't remember where.
HELP!