July is on the go and I havested the bergamot (Monarda didyma) flowers several times already. What seems to me like alittle miracle is two days after I pick the petals of the flowers it grows back!I appreciate the beautiful colour of the tea I make with it and its mint-like perfumed taste. I use a glass tea pot to enjoy the subtilities of the coloration of the tea according to the chosen ingredients. Admiring it soothing in itself. The bergamot mixes very well with nettle or elderflower.
I made a bergamot syrup using wild flower honey. Here is the recipe:
Poor 1 litre of boiling water on 2 to 3 cups of fresh or dried bergamot flower petals. Add one kilo of sugar or honey. Let it macerate for two days. Add the juice of two lemons. Store in sterilized bottles.
Use one tablespoon of this syrup in a cup of hot water in case of insomnia, nervous state or as a cardio tonic to make sure our heart are beating at the right rythm!But it also makes a perfectly refreshing summer limonade.
On several occasions this summer I saw hummingbirds drinking the bergamot’s nectar. How enchanting to follow this frenetic danse of iridescent reds! Oone occasion I saw a rare strawberry blond teenager courageously giving his mother a hand by picking the precious bergamot flowers.
Unfortunately, this week I had to completely cut my bergamot colony because of mildew. I will have to choose mildew resistant cultivars. Anyone has suggestions?
