Warming chai, pomegranate love & snow day fun
Baby, it’s cold outside!
Well, relatively speaking. California cold is not much compared to Wisconsin’s winter cold. Which is where I grew up. But winter is winter, and it’s time for warming herbs!
As soon as the temperature drops, I start brewing up ginger tea. Ginger increases circulation to the periphery so my hands and feet don’t feel like ice cubes. It can be as simple as adding ginger to water, but why not utilize your spice cupboard to create an herbal chai that increases circulation, aids digestion, boosts immunity, and helps calm the nervous system as well? Depending on the herbs and spices you choose, this is what your cup of tea can do. Check out this article to learn more about the power of ginger.
Like many recipes, this is a template. Change it up according to your tastes, and what you have in the cupboard. I usually make this as an herbal chai, occasionally adding black tea, but I like to leave it non-caffeinated so I can drink it in the evening and still get a good night's sleep afterwards.
Warming Chai
6 cups water
1-2 inches ginger root, sliced
1 stick cinnamon, crushed
1 tablespoon fennel seed
2 teaspoons fenugreek seed
6-8 pods cardamom, crushed
1 star anise, crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Add spices to a pot of water. Bring to a boil with the lid on to trap the aromatics of the tea. Turn to low and simmer 10-20 minutes. Strain out the herbs, adding sweetener and milk if desired.
I often drink this straight, but as a richer treat, I will add milk to the pot, gently infusing for the last 10 minutes. I’ll sweeten to taste with honey or sugar in my cup. If I do decide to add black tea, I add one teaspoon per cup, plus one for the pot, steeping for 2-3 minutes before straining out.
There are as many chai recipes as there are chai drinkers. I’ve had chai with cumin, coriander, cloves, turmeric, orange peel, dandelion and burdock roots, astragalus, ashwaghanda, and oat straw. They all make a delicious cup of tea, and I’m heading into the kitchen right now to brew some up!
Punica granatum
From the juice to the seed oil to the sheer beauty of this fruit, it is time to celebrate the pomegranate. If you google “Persephone pomegranate,” you’ll find many renditions of the myth connecting the goddess with wintertime and the jewel-like seeds. A Secret, Symbolic History of Pomegranates is full of great information.
We won’t be damned to dwell in the Underworld with Hades if we snack on the seeds, so we toss them in our salads, sprinkle them atop pancakes, and stir them into fruit and yogurt bowls. Jordy also makes a wicked whiskey sour with freshly pressed pomegranate juice, and we’re happy to get our antioxidants even during cocktail hour. Try this trick for easy deseeding next time you’re gifted with the beautiful red orb.
Pomegranate seed oil contains punicic fatty acid found only in pomegranate seeds and the seeds of two gourds. According to Susan Parker’s wonderful book, Power of the Seed, punicic acid is highly nutritious and conditioning for the skin, helping to repair sun and weather damage, and increasing elasticity and cell regeneration. The antioxidant-rich, collagen-boosting oil feels luxurious, yet absorbs nicely, delivering the beneficial properties deeply into the tissues.
We blend pomegranate seed oil with plum kernel, camellia, and jojoba oils in our new Jade Mist Facial Oil, which I am absolutely crazy about! Its blue color is due to blue tansy and blue chamomile essential oils. Both are cooling and anti-inflammatory, infusing a refreshing, cleansing scent to this bliss.
Snow Day haiku
when winter drifts bring
snow day note on alarm clock—
freedom all day long
As I mentioned, I grew up in Wisconsin. Though I’ve lived in Healdsburg, California for more than half my life now, winter to me still means snow. One of my best childhood memories involves snow days. What a delight, as a kid, to get a random, surprise day off of school because the world is covered in fresh, beautiful snow. When the snow day alert came in, our mom would turn off our alarms, covering the time on our clocks with a note that said “SNOW DAY!” Snowmen. Snow forts. Snowball fights. Sledding. The Milwaukee river ran through our town, and when the river froze over, we would have an ice skating rink complete with hot cocoa in the changing hut. I can think of nothing I’d love more this season than to wake up to a note giving me an entire day of fun and play out in the winter air.
As the calendar shows us winding up the last weeks of the year, and Thursday, December 21 marks the midpoint of winter with the solstice, we look forward to welcoming back the light. I’d like to find moments of pause before 2024 arrives. I’d like to weave into my days the slowness to notice. The grace to appreciate what is. Plenty of time to simply be, and breathe, and feel gratitude for the simplicity of an ordinary day.
However you celebrate the season, I hope it brings a healthy glow to your cheeks, and many cups of delicious, warm drinks in your belly.
