Immunity Tea Paste
When we lived in Berkeley, my husband used to buy expensive jars of an immunity tea paste from an amazing little restaurant near Gourmet Ghetto. After looking at the price tag one day, I did what I often do: I studied the ingredient label and tried to make it myself. It’s not because I’m obsessively frugal (I’m not) - it’s just that I’m accustomed to making things from scratch. I’ve never shared this here, but my initiation into slow living happened in the kitchen, first with food and then with just about everything else.
I wish I could say I found my way to slow food by curiosity but the truth is, I was forced into it by circumstance. More specifically, my two (sweet but) very colicky babies led me down the rabbit hole of learning anything and everything about health and nutrition. In my attempt to heal their fragile digestive systems, I learned to prepare foods the old, traditional way, using raw ingredients and slow techniques that rendered them nutrient-dense and digestible.
In my case, navigating food sensitivities meant avoiding nearly anything prepackaged or ready-made. When it came to food, convenience was not an option. If my kids wanted something wrapped in foil or plastic at the grocery store, I had to figure out how to make it myself using real, whole foods that were gluten, dairy, sugar, preservative, and mysterious-ingredient-free.
As you might imagine, I developed a habit of reading ingredient labels and developing recipes. Sometimes they floated; sometimes they sank! Glut, glut, glut! Regardless, our kitchen often looked like a cross between a very busy 19th century scullery, a crunchy food co-op from the 1960s, and Sandor Ellis Katz’s jar-laden, wild-fermented cupboards.
When my husband kept bringing home jars of a pricey and bold-looking tea blend, my maker reflexes kicked into high gear and set to work. Several messy iterations later - including one where I stained our brand new juicer orange with raw turmeric - I finally figured out that adding dried spices to honey made a shelf-stable paste that was easier and much, much, much less messy than juicing raw ingredients.
I‘m not sure how my version compares to the store-bought stuff, but subjectively-speaking I think it’s delicious. Objectively, I’m sure it’s just as healthy. The turmeric, ginger, and honey are packed with immune-boosting properties and introduce all sorts of anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial qualities to the tea. The pepper opens up your sinuses and wakes you up, without bringing you to your knees the way caffeine tends to do.
I make a jar at a time and keep it in the cupboard for up to a week, although it never lasts that long! If you plan to share it with children, or anyone sensitive to spicy foods, I’d recommend eliminating both the black and cayenne peppers. To take its healing score up a notch, you can also substitute the raw honey for manuka honey. You could also pour over milk (regular or plant-based) in stead of water to make a fuller-bodied, more filling drink.
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw honey
5 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
dash cayenne pepper
fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Combine the first five ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to form a paste. Place one teaspoon of the paste into a mug and cover with warm water. Add a squeeze of lemon and stir well to dissolve. Store remaining paste in an airtight container in your cupboard.