Bergamot Plant For Tea
The tea leaves are either sprayed with bergamot extract or essential oil or mixed with dried.
Bergamot plant for tea. Planting bergamot seeds you can plant bergamot seeds outdoors in early spring while the soil is cool and there is still a chance of a light frost. The plant can be used as a cooking herb. Oil from the peel of the fruit and extract from the fruit juice are used to make medicine. Bergamot tea is typically made from black tea leaves and the fruit of the citrus bergamia tree.
When american colonists boycotted british tea they turned to oswego tea the beverage brewed by the oswego nation from bee balm monarda didyma. Bee balm often called bergamot these bee pleasing additions to your garden emit a lovely scent similar to the unrelated bergamot fruit used to flavor earl grey tea. Cut off bergamot flower heads when they bloom in early to late summer using garden shears or a sharp knife. During the american revolution bergamot tea was the most popular substitute for the unpatriotic english brew.
Bergamot is a plant that produces a type of citrus fruit. Cover the seeds with a light dusting of soil. The plant sets seed which are light brown ovals. When the seedlings have two sets of true leaves thin them to 18 to 24 inches apart.
It has a dense rather shallow root system with any runners. Oswego tea made from wild bergamot flowers and leaves was the favorite choice of americans who turned to native plants to make their tea after losing access to british teas as a result of the boston tea party. Bergamot tea is obtained by brewing leaves of the bergamot herb. This tea has several medicinal benefits and is consumed by people with health issues like cough cold sinusitis etc.
It is 2 5 feet tall very erect leafy tubular stalk topped by a fuzzy flower cluster brilliant scarlet. Bergamot is an american perennial. Also known as oswego tea or bee balm bergamot tea is quite popular with native american indians. Make the cut just below the base of.
Bergamot is also responsible for the lemon like citrus scent and taste thats a classic component of the beloved tea blend known as earl grey making it a no brainer element to include in a tea garden. Earl grey tea intoxication. Bergamot can be used in several ways outside of tea. However the native american plant was exported to england in the mid 1700s where.
Enliven the taste and look of salads by adding a sprinkling of bergamot flowers. The paired leaves are dark green growing 4 6 inches long.