Name: Flaxseed Tea
Ingredients: 1 ounce flaxseed, whole; 2 teaspoons bruised liquorice; 1 pint boiling soft water

Flaxseed Tea

Ingredients

1 ounce flaxseed, whole
2 teaspoons bruised liquorice
1 pint boiling soft water

Directions

Combine flaxseed, liquorice, and boiling water in a jug.
Cover and place near the fire for 4 hours.
Strain the mixture through linen or cotton.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flaxseed: Releases mucilage into hot water, giving the tea a soft, slightly thick body.
Liquorice: Adds natural sweetness and a distinctive aromatic flavour to the infusion.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.