Since the weather is getting warmer, one of the first things I made was artichoke tea. It's very cheap and simple to make. One gallon will probably cost you $2 or less. Please keep reading if you'd like to see how I make my artichoke tea.
Ingredients:
1 medium-large artichoke
1 gallon of water (I use tap water)
Sugar to taste, optional (I use rock sugar)
Steps:
1. Wash the artichoke and cut into small pieces (see pic). I like to use a spice bag so there's no straining later.
2. In a big pot, boil 1 gallon of water. When the water starts to boil, carefully put in your artichoke pouch.
3. Let it boil/steep for about 1 hour. After about 30 minutes, use a wooden spoon to gently mash the artichokes in the pouch. This is optional.
4. After 1 hour, turn off heat and let cool off a bit before taking the pouch out. When taking the pouch out, carefully squeeze out any tea you can.
5. While tea is still warm, add sugar to taste. If you don't want it sweet, you don't have to add any sugar.
6. Once tea has cooled down enough, pour it into a container to put in the fridge. I wash and reuse old Arizona tea gallon bottles or small juice bottles (see pic). You can put it in a pitcher or anything that you like.
This is optional, but you could also add basil seeds or chia seeds (see pic). Sometimes after refrigerating overnight, the artichoke tea will turn a radiant green color. Sometimes it will remain greenish brown. Either way, the artichoke tea is still delicious and very refreshing. A nice way to cool down on a hot summer day! I hope you get a chance to make this tea and see for yourself how refreshingly good it is. Enjoy!
