Ancient Beverage Promotes Purity, Peace and Friendship

TREE OF THE MONTH: Native Americans recognize Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria, at the "Beloved Tree." It grows as an understory shrub or small tree.

Long before Europeans arrived, Native Americans made a caffeinated beverage, known as the Black Drink, from toasted leaves of this plant. The drink was typically used in rituals promoting purity, peace and friendship. The leaves were traded with tribes outside the plant's natural range. It was offered to former enemies during peacemaking ceremonies. While the recipe can vary between tribes, the full formula was not given to outsiders. It is speculated that the black drink may have contained emetic herbs in addition to yaupon leaves, since rituals often, but not always, included vomiting. Europeans did not vomit when they were given the black drink. Although the scientific name for yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, refers to vomiting, the leaves do not cause vomiting.

In my opinion, yaupon leaves make an awesome tea, reminiscent of green tea, but with a better flavor and loaded with caffeine. When collecting the leaves, avoid the red berries. They will make you vomit. Also, do not mistake yaupon holly for the similar looking, toxic, non-native, Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinenese).

There are many different ways to prepare yaupon leaves for tea. The leaves first need to be dried or toasted to release the caffeine, similar to roasting coffee beans. The traditional approach was to cut fresh branches and put them over a fire with hot rocks or a clay bowl until brown. Water was added and the brew was boiled for a while, resulting in a black drink. I prefer to make my tea weaker, so the flavor is similar to green tea. When I make yaupon tea at home, I either 1) air dry the leaves in the garage for a few weeks, 2) dry them on a cookie sheet in an oven set at 175 F for an hour, or 3) roast them on a cookie sheet in an oven at 400 F for a few minutes. Each approach results in a different flavor.

During the American Civil War, yaupon tea was used as a coffee substitute throughout the South. Yaupon was a common drink until the early 1900s when its use was stigmatized as a drink for rural, poor southerners. In the early 2000s yaupon tea began witnessing a resurgence in popularity, and can now be purchased online and at several historical sites related to Native Americans. Tea purchased in this way is expensive, often costing $8 to $10 an ounce.

We will make this tea and hand out packets of yaupon leaves at the Spring Bushcraft Meetup at Big South Fork, 14-18 May 2016.    • Видео  

References:
Yaupon Fact Sheet. US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/...

Yaupon Holly, Foraging Texas. Merriwether’s Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Texas and the Southwest http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/...

Black Drink, A Native American Tea, 1979, Charles M. Hudson, Editor, University of Georgia Press

Ilex Cassine: The aboriginal North American tea : its history, distribution, and use among the native American Indians, 1891, Edwin Moses Hale, Bulletin U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Division of Botany.

Here’s the Buzz On America’s Forgotten Native ‘Tea’ Plant, 2015, Murray Carpenter. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2...

People in the Southwestern United States drank caffeinated drinks in 750 AD. 2015, Robin Whitlock. http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-h...

Scientific names matter to marketability: A taste test of infusions of a native Florida holly (Ilex vomitoria) and yerba mate
(I. paraguariensis), A. E. Wainwright and F.E. Putz Scientific names matter to marketability: A taste test of infusions of a native Florida…

DISCLAIMER: This video provides only a summary. Seek additional information before eating anything with which you are not familiar. Do not eat wild plants unless you definitely know what they are and you know how you will react. Some edible wild plants have poisonous look-alikes. You may be allergic to some edible wild plants. If you are at all unsure, don't eat it. I assume no legal liability or responsibility for injuries resulting from use of information in this video.

Videography by Ken Kramm, 20 November 2015, Sam Houston National Forest, Texas, USA; Canon Vixia HF G10, iPhone 6+; Final Cut Pro X. Public Domain and Creative Commons photographs. “Lost In the Forest” Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions, YouTube Audio Library. “Are you from Dixie, cause I’m from Dixie too” Bill Murray and chorus, Issue Number Edison Blue Amber: 2942, Release year 1916, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 License, http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/sea...