Have you heard of Tilia Tea?

I love what Turkish call Ihlamur. It is a flower and a tea. It is known as Tilia, Linden, or Limewood.Tilia is grown all over the world in temperate climates. 
  We have a Tilia tree outside and we were able to harvest some of the flowers today for drying then make tea out of it! 
 I must say, I love the flavor of Tilia tea. 
 The aroma is very remarkable, although I sneeze and cough terribly, the tea is really good and has many medicinal purposes. It helps with high blood pressure, colds, sore throats, the list goes on. In North America using Linden is popular for guitar type instruments, one being the base guitar.They say you can use parts of the roots of the tree, and many Folklore in different cultures call the tree holy. The Slavic's Folklore say that the trees are not only holy but bring good luck and there are many tales of that in Middle Ages all over Europe, and different parts of the world. In Germany there is a tree that was planted for honor of King Henry's Wife and they say it is about 1,000 years old.

    I climbed  to get more blossoms. It was fun. I wanted to get more blossoms, but I had to keep in mind that Anneanne was getting worried with me up in the tree, she kept saying I was going to fall. So, I climbed down the tree... :( So sad.  I then helped Anneanne put the blossoms on her balcony floor, where there is sun to help dry them, but no bugs can get to them because of the glass enclosure, and the smell is wonderful throughout the house! Aahhhh...
 Here are some pictures of the tree. You get the blossom and the little stem and the small leaf that is attached to both, and dry them. Put them in a bag for storing and boil the lot (leaf, blossoms and stem) The color of tea ranges for a light pink to a hearty gold color and you hardly need sugar because of the sweetness of the tea, but some people like a little honey with it. This stuff is great and I encourage anyone that has a Linden Tree to harvest the blossoms: They are 65 lira for a kilo here in Turkey... And my parents and my brother who are all tree fans, never heard of it... It is hugely expensive here in Turkey, a place where tea is not expensive: It is worth looking into. Sadly, as I do not have a camera, you all must wait until next year for the pictures of me, a monkey, dressed in human clothes, but climbing from limb to limb as my ancestors might have done according to Darwin. Not bad exercise though, must say.  

The Linden or Tilia Tree Leaf

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This is what it looks like when ready to be harvested. Little clusters of blossoms on stems

These are little berries that too have medicinal purposes. Just the flowers have a better taste.