Happy May Day - May Wine

I have often been called the Queen of Cups and yet I'm more recently thinking of myself as the Queen of Spring Tonics.
Spring tonics make my heart sing.
I like them as simple as can be.

May Wine
-how to make-
On or near May Day (May 1) harvest tops (all that is above ground) of Sweet Woodruff Gallium odorata.
Buy a bottle of white wine.
Open the wine, sort the less than lovely parts of the Sweet Woodruff from the lovely and put the lovely parts into the wine.
Let sit for 30 minutes or so, then pour little sips and toast to May, the May Queen and springtime. Make another toast for yourself and for what you wish for in the coming spring season of new growth and wonder.Sweet Woodruff is a modest May Queen. Perhaps a May Princess.
Realted closely to Cleavers Gallium aparine.

The remainder of the May Wine can be stored in the refrigerator and sipped as your heart desires. The tiny bit you have sipped can be replaced by more white wine. It can be topped off as often as you like, depending on how much herb you have in the bottle. It's a bit like making tea in that the first steeping is fragrant and delicate and as the tea steeps longer it becomes full and imparts the deeper notes of a tea, sometimes bringing out the bitter notes. If you add more water to the same tea, it can be lovely still, but different.
This May Wine is like that.
The first day, right after I made it, the taste was delicate and flowery. Now, 3 days later the taste is richer, more full and has a distinct vanilla aroma.
I will sip it strong like it is until the weeks end and then top it with more wine and put it in the fridge. Of course I will offer some up to the May Queen.
Do what you like and trust your instincts.

There are a bit more complicated recipes for May Wine, but I like simplicity.
Try multiple recipes if you like, and let me know what you think.

This is a favorite spring tonic for making the heart joyful.
What could be better.
Enjoy!

Spring Tonic

Gallium aparine-Cleavers
Spring Tonic Extraordinaire

What are the plants that spring up by your front step?

If it grows near to where you live or walk it is a reminder that it is calling to you.

For me it's Cleavers. gallium aparine.

Here is an beautiful old drawing

and the quintessential herbal info site

It's a powerful little weed. Bright green and reaching towards you, this is to me the signature of a spring tonic.

A troublesome weed to many gardeners, you'll recognize it as a plant that is long and stringy and sticks to you like velcro.

It's great for making garlands to add flowers to because it will stay on your head when everything else tends to fall awkwardly to one side.

I walked by a flower bed today and I could see some cleavers reaching up to wrap themselves around the spent tulips toward the sun. I picked the tops (about 8 inches) of four or five stalks. I put them in my purse and brought them to work. I simply placed them as they were in a heat-proof pint glass and poured boiling water over them. I let it steep for about ten minutes and have drunk about half of it and I will add more water to it throughout the day until there is no more flavor. You could also just drink it the once and compost the herb, but I like the never-ending cup of tea. It's beautiful in the glass and so alive and vital. The taste is clean, light, green and slightly sweet and mineral-y.

Cleavers are traditionally used as a purifying spring tonic, nourishing in particular to the glandular system.
tonic: An invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence.

I also make a tincture of cleavers that I reach for throughout the winter when my glands are swollen. The first time I drank my cleavers brew from the previous spring's harvest, I could feel the cool drainage down the sides of my neck within an hour.

Amazing.

I make my cleavers tincture in wine, because it is easily extracted, there is no need for anything stronger.
To make your own:

Simply snip cleavers into any size clean jar. Fill to the top with the herb then fill to the top with wine. You can use any wine, but I prefer to use a white wine so I can watch the color changes. I generally do a triple tincture with cleavers, which is to let the first infusion sit in the fridge for a week or two, then strain out and compost the herb adding more to the same jar of wine, increasing its potency.

Now I just wait until I feel a bit sluggish or my glands feel swollen. I'll either just nip off the top of this or I'll strain and rebottle.
I keep this in the fridge due to the low alcohol content.
The dose I take is a couple tablespoons in a beautiful cordial glass or a small jelly jar and I find it tastes better if you let it warm to room temperature. It tastes a bit like beets if it is a strong infusion. To make a stronger brew just strain the herb from the wine and to the same wine add more herb and let it set for two weeks with each batch of herb.

Don't wait on this one, it really is a Spring herb.

xoxo