Medicinal Tea Herb Storage

Way back in 2009, I shared with you about "Pantry Tins ~ Using What Ya Got" and in 2010, I gave you a look into my winter kitchen and showed you how I save jars and bottles for my herbs, herbs mixes and sauces. And since then, I've given you recipes for various herb mixes and medicinal tea blends ~ today, I'm going show you how I store and label my tea blends.

As you can see, I'm a bit of a jar and bottle hoarder. O:-) But believe me, if I don't use them myself, you can be sure that some of them will be used as gifts of herbal tea or spice blends or for my married daughter (who just happens to run out of something and forgets to bring her jar to re-fill. Eh-hem ;-) ). 

Originally, I started keeping my jars of tea herbs in a lovely basket on my kitchen counter. But as you can see, I need to get a bigger basket! So, as my cupboards are full of cooking spices, for the time-being, I simply park the extra herb jars next to my basket. 

The most important thing that I do is, when making my little labels, I not only write which herb is in the jar, but (it's a little hard to see) I write 1 or 2 things that the herb is good for. Chickweed ~ cleansing, weight loss; Slippery Elm ~ sore throat, stomach; Eucalyptus ~ breathing; Nettle ~ breathing, sinus, allergies; Horehound ~ colds, sore throat . . . 

Once I had to go back to working outside the home, in 2010, I am not always around to make these blends for my family, so now, with the labels, they know exactly what to put into their tea ball. Also ~ I have made up jars of some of our family favorites such as my Sinus Tea and Headache Comfort Tea. 

Many craft stores and bulk food stores offer lovely little jars that you can use for your spices, herbs and tea blends ~ and I enjoy those, too ~ but (as you can see in the 2nd photo) you don't HAVE to spend money on new jars. Be frugal and do what I usually do and save your honey jars, squeeze honey bottles, lotion bottles (which I also use for homemade skincare items), mushroom jars, jelly/jam jars, olive jars, pasta sauce jars, etc. You can find lovely old tea tins or old Hoosier herb jars at second-hand and antique stores, if they are already labeled, great, simply re-fill them with the same herb. Do you enjoy Republic of Tea teas and don't know what to do with those pretty tea tins? The herb blends that they use are on the side of the tin, make your own blend of the same ingredients and store it in the already labeled tin. Remember: the 1st item on the list is what makes up the bulk of the blend and then each item listed thereafter is used less and less. It may take you a time or two to get your blend to where you like it, but that's part of the fun. You may even like YOUR blend better! 

Let us know if you have other herb storage ideas.

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><