Scented Geraniums - Tea Ideas for the Month of September

This time I want to discuss making tea with Scented geraniums.  So many folks think they are only for show, but I find they are great to make edibles with.

Scented geraniums are of the genus Pelargonium, also called storksbill.  They were imported to England from the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa in 1632. The rose-scented varieties are grown for making perfume as a substitute for attar of Roses.

Old-Fashioned Rose Scented Geranium

Roper's Lemon Rose Geranium

While many species and cultivars of scented geraniums are used in cooking, the three most common are peppermint, (Pelegorium tomentosum) rose (P. graveolens or Old Fashioned Rose) and lemon.  The lemon coming in a number of different varieties from Mable Grey, to Rober's Lemon Rose, Hillary Lemon and lemon crispum (P. crispum). Although not known for their medicinal properties, scented geraniums can bring great scents to a beverage.

Gray Lady Plymouth - a lemon-scented geranium

Fresh leaves have more flavor than dried ones, so this time of year when I am cutting the Geraniums back before bringing them indoors for winter is a great time to make tea blends with them.  Use 1 tsp dried or 1 Tablespoon fresh crumbled leaves to one cup of hot water.  

To start here is a tea recipe using many different leaves to give a broad flavor.

Geranium Leaf Tea

• 2 rose geranium leaves
• 3 peppermint geranium leaves
• 1 Mable Grey geranium leaf
• 2 Lemon Rose geranium leaves

Place the crumpled leaves in a pot and cover with 2 cups of hot water and allow to steep 5 to 7 minutes.  Strain into a cup and enjoy this light-colored tea with a few sweet sugar cookies for a wonderful afternoon pick-me-up.

Here is a spicy tea recipe that is great made with rose or lemon rose geranium leaves.

Rose Geranium Black Tea

• 1 tsp black tea of your choice
• 1 -3 whole cloves
• 2 crumbled fresh rose geranium leaves

place all items in a tea ball or coffee filter tied closed and steep in a mug of boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes.  Don't leave too long or the clove overpower everything else.

Another great way to get the flavor of scented geraniums into your tea is to make geranium sugar.

This is created by layering the leaves with granulated sugar in a container for about 2 weeks, then removing the now desiccated (totally dried out) leaves for sugar free of herb bits, which makes a wonderful flavored addition to coffee, tea, and lemonade.