Kitchen Medicine: Immunity Booster Tea Recipe

We love this recipe because we almost always have these types of ingredients on hand during cold and flu season. This is a kitchen medicine recipe that’s been used quite a bit in our family. It’s a simple recipe using any scraps you have on hand, like orange peels, onion core, garlic scraps, fennel seeds, lemon peels, and ginger pulp. My great grandmother used to use grapefruit peels and onion with any spices she had on hand like cayenne and coriander.

When I have 2-3 medicinal ingredients on hand, I’ll throw them in a pot on the stove and cover. I’ll then make myself a tea with the kitchen scraps at some point during the day. Typically we have lemon peels from lemon water leftover or ginger pulp from making a morning juice and then I’ll use some fennel or mint stems if I want to aid my digestion. If I need to create digestive fire, I’ll add cayenne. If I want to aid my immunity I’ll add garlic peels or sheath. If I need to detox any heavy metals I’ll use cilantro or coriander in the tea. Basically, I’ll pick what I want to work on that day and pair it with the scraps I have on hand. If I have excess flowers I’ll make a rose tea or simply add them to this recipe. There are still medicinal immune-boosting properties in the kitchen scraps, so why throw them in the compost? I like to make this tea first and then add the scraps to my compost.

This is a money-saving tip because buying ginger and orange tea satchels are never going to give you the purest cleanest medicine-packed tea. If you’re already investing in organic produce, get the extra benefits of the food by making a tea. Why buy tea when you can make your own from your own kitchen scraps?

If you’re new to tea drinking or want to learn what to choose and what to avoid. Listen to our podcast episode: “What’s The Tea?”

Kitchen Immunity Booster Tea:

Creator: I Am Zuri

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Total Time:  10 minutes

Servings: Scrap size will determine how many servings

Ingredients:

• Orange peels (citrus peels or pulp)
• Onion core
• Garlic scraps
• Fennel seeds
• Mint leaves or stems
• Ginger pulp
• Dash of fennel, coriander, or cayenne

Instructions:

Gather kitchen scraps that you have on hand and add enough water to cover all kitchen scraps.  Once steeped, strain the scraps from the water and sip.

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