linden flower schnapps

The Linden tree, or American Basswood tree is in bloom in several places along the hedgerows between fields, now.The sweetly scented flowers attract lots of bees, and Linden Honey is considered to be one the most aromatic and valuable in the world. It's used in liqueurs and medicine.

Dried linden flowers and leaves are used for tea making. The flowers can also be infused in vodka to make a Linden Flower Schnapps.

Herbalists say linden has antispasmodic, diuretic, sedative, and antifungal activites, as well as mild astrigent properties. Linden contains flavonoids, p-coumaric acid, kaempferol, quercetin, trepenoids, and volatile oils including citral, citronellal, citronellol, eugenol, and limonene. Linden has been used for coughs, cold, nasal congestion, throat irritation, nervousness, headaches, hypertension, insomnia, and migraines. It can also be used topically for skin irritation and rheumatism.

I picked a bunch of linden flowers today to dry for tea-making. I have enjoyed linden flowers and leaves before in a tea-blend for the times when I'm feeling under the weather.

The honey and schnapps also sound interesting. I know I could infuse honey with the linden flowers to flavor it, but I believe linden flower honey as actually made by bees would be divine!

The aroma of the small bunch of flowers I picked was quite pleasant, sweet and reminded me of white-clover honey. It wafted up now and then from the bunch in my hand and accompanied me this afternoon along my walk around the perimeter of two large hay-fields, north of my house, one which had just been cut, the other already baled.

Walking through recently cut hay-fields in sandals is not easy. The stalks of the cut grasses are quite stiff and sharp. They poke unpleasantly at tender feet through open sandals. But with a little shuffle added to each step, the foot pushes the stalks forward and out of the way, and I was able to return home without a scratch.

Yesterday, Tasha and Molly came along with me for my afternoon walk. Today, Misty and Tasha joined me. Molly started out with us too, but when she saw where we were headed, she decided to stay home instead. She had been quite out of breath in the heat yesterday. Poor bullies, the heat really does not agree with them. Molly decided it would be more fun to watch Ann mow the lawn--watching doesn't exert one as much.

In the middle of supper, Molly suddenly appeared inside the house. I thought Ann had let her in and Ann thought I had. After a while we realized that Molly, perhaps tired of the mosquitoes which come out after dusk, decided to come in: through an open window that looks out over the deck. Always determined, she pushed and pushed until the screen popped out of the frame and simply climbed in the open window. By the time we realized what had happened, just about a million mosquitoes had come into the house too!