Thursday, May 24, 2012

Tea leaves and spices and everything nices....


If I have developed a habit of buying anything while living here it has been teas and bags of different leaves and spices.  Some things I've never seen before, and it's reasonably priced.  Cinnamon sticks are downright cheap compared to what you would pay in The States or Canada.

Boldo do Chile is a leaf native to Chile, as you may have guessed, and supposedly good for hangovers or stomach aches. It was discovered when sheepherders realized that the sheep that grazed in a certain area where the boldo do Chile was growing didn't have the intestinal problems that the other sheep developed.  And it has a somewhat unappetizing taste and smell. 


There are also olives leaves from which you can make tea, with a fairly mild, palatable flavor.  Supposedly there are many health benefits from consuming olive-leaf tea, so I may try to drink it more regularly.  There is maté, of course; the toasted maté tea pictured here (with orange peel) is very tasty.  There is something called cavalinha in the back, which translates to horsetail in English.  There was quite a bit on the internet about it, but I'd never heard of horsetail before.  Not sure how it tastes yet.  

There's a bag of chamomile from the feira (open-air market) and a bag of green tea (chá verde). The large bag of bay leaves (folha de louro) that I need for my Louisiana and Cuban (and now Brasilian) cooking didn't make it into the picture.

And whole anise (anis estrelado) - smells sooooooo good.  It reminds me of the pizzelles (Italian waffle cookie) that some good friends of mine make during the holidays.  I LOVE those cookies, and I can't wait to try some tea.

I don't think I've gone overboard, yet.

1 comment:

  1. The anise is the best to be use for colics for small children.

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