While wandering in the Greek countryside, you can find a treasure of herbs and plants that are beneficial for consumption. One of the most common and easy to identify is the mountain tea.
Mountain tea, or siderite, has already been known since the time of Dioscorides and Hippocrates, who recommended it as a tonic herb and favored it for its healing properties, ideal for treating wounds from iron weapons in battles (swords, arrows), thus its name comes from. For other contemporaries of Hippocrates, the name referred to the plant’s stems, which had sepals that resembled the tip of a spear. Today, swords and arrows are a thing of the past, but mountain tea remains the most popular and beloved Greek herb, which is rarely missing from any home. Classic common tea or black tea has nothing in common with mountain tea. Black tea comes from the leaves of the Camelia sinensis plant, and contains caffeine and different polyphenols, while the biological properties attributed to it differ significantly.
Soil and climatic requirements
Mountain tea prefers rocky and limestone soils. Other species also grow in the crevices or hollows of limestone rocks, where the soil stops, others in soils full of limestone debris (gravel), and others in stony areas, either singly or in plant communities. It multiplies in two ways:
1. Inherently (with seed)
2. Roughly (with offshoots) from 2-year-old plants.
Harvest
The harvest takes place in July when the plants are in full bloom. During the harvest, the entire inflorescence and below it a part of the stem, 5 to 6 cm(approximately 2 inches) long, is cut with a knife or sickle or by hand. Then the harvested quantity is transferred for drying in sheds that have a roof made of tiles, to obtain a greenish-yellow color which is also desired. If the drying is not done in the shade or when the shed is made of sheet metal then the plants become discolored, as a result of which their quality is degraded.
Properties
Mountain tea contains a valuable arsenal of flavonoids, catechins, monoterpenes, diterpenes, phenylpropene triterpenic acids, sterols, iridoids, essential oils, curcumin and caryophyllin. Many modern researchers come to document the actions of these substances, which seem to be valuable for the human body. More specifically, the consumption of mountain tea can help in cases of, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and hypertension. It also helps to relieve the digestive system and is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic action, and antimicrobial. Mountain tea does not contain caffeine, so it can be consumed sufficiently without fear. Since it does not show a stimulating effect, it is safe to be consumed in reasonable amounts by children. It has no known side effects.
Preparation methods
Beverage
Boil water. When the boiling stops, add two tablespoons of mountain tea for every cup of water. Leave it for 4 minutes, strain it, and drink it.
Infusion
Pour 2 tablespoons mountain tea into a cup of boiling water. Cover it, and leave it for about 10 minutes. Then strain it and drink it. You can safely consume several cups a day, especially in cases of colds, since mountain tea does not contain caffeine. If you add honey and a few drops of fresh lemon, this wonderful tea will immediately relieve the symptoms.
Hot or Cold drink
We make an infusion of mountain tea and linden. Optionally add 1 tbsp. honey or brown sugar. In addition to its wonderful taste, it will give you a wonderful and peaceful sleep if you drink it hot or cold at night, just before going to bed.