RECIPES

For one cup of tulsi tea steep about one part of dried tulsi leaves, more if using fresh, to eight to ten parts of boiling water Steep three to five minutes and strain Add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for additional flavoring and a tablespoon of honey or sugar if you like it sweeter Traditional Ayurvedic practices avoid the use of dairy products in this tea as they are said to counter the effect of the tulsi (tulsi being hot and dairy being a coolant)

1½ cups whole milk

½ cup (packed) fresh ‘Vana’ tulsi leaves/tender stems

½ to ¾ cup granulated sugar (amount to suit taste)

1½ cups heavy cream, well chilled

1 – 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer . Remove from heat . Crush the tulsi leaves and add to the milk Cover and let steep 20-30 minutes Strain out leaves .

Reheat, add sugar, and stir until dissolved (for chocolate ice cream add in six to eight ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and stir until melted) .

Remove from heat, stir in the heavy cream, and add vanilla to taste Chill until cold

Turn on the ice cream machine and pour in the mixture . Mix until thickened . Makes about eight, half cup servings . For a creamier ice cream use more cream and less milk

Literature Cited

Balick, Michael J. 2014. Rodale’s 21st - century herbal. New York: Rodale Press. Bown, Deni. 2001. The Herb Society of America’s new encyclopedia of herbs & their uses. New York: DK Publishing, Inc. Cech, Richo. 2020. Tulsi holy basil type comparisons. Accessed September 15, 2020. Available from https://blog.strictlymedicinalseeds.com/tulsi-holy-basil-typecomparisons/

Cohen, Marc Maurice. 2014. Tulsi – Ocimum sanctum: a herb for all reasons. Journal of Ayurvedic and Integrative Medicine. 5(4): 251-259

Malay, Pandey, Bhatt, Krishnan and Bisht. 2015. Morphological variability in holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) from India. Genetic Resources Crop Evolution. 62:1245-1256

Organic India USA (Internet). 2020. What is tulsi. Lucknow, India. Last updated January 1, 2020. Accessed September 14, 2020. Available from https://www.organicindiausa. com/blog/what-is-tulsi/

The Plant List. 2020. Results for generic epithet Ocimum. Accessed September 14, 2020. Available from https://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=ocimum Editor’s note: the entire content of The Plant List has migrated to World Flora, www.worldfloraonline.org

Tucker, Arthur O. and Thomas DeBaggio. 2009. The encyclopedia of herbs: a comprehensive reference to herbs of flavor and fragrance. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press.