It has been a bit quiet here on the blog with no new posts for about a month. This is all due to an operation I had last month, which has made it a bit hard for me to be in the kitchen for longer than 5 minutes. But it is time to get back in business, and back in that kitchen 😉 Especially because my freezer is starting to get more and more empty.
So for this post I have something really simple for you guys, you can hardly even call it a recipe. None the less, it is a great tea blend for anyone with histamine issues. And I find that it really calms my body’s reactions to histamine down. It soothes my stomach when it is upset and helps against sluggishness. I also feel like it helps my body calm down again, when my heart is racing. I some times get some crazy heart palpitations – not fun at all.
In general I don’t really recommend eating or drinking anything on a daily basis, due to increased risk of developing food sensitivities. Variation is key! But if there is anything I would consider eating or drinking on a daily basis, it would be this tea (or some gut healing bone broth ;)).
So what is in this Antihistamine Tea Blend…..
- Moringa (Moringa Oleifera) – Powerful anti-oxidant with anti-inflammatory properties
- Holy Basil (Ocimum Tenuiflorum) – Anti histamine, and mast cell stabilising properties
- Nettle (Urtica Dioica) – Anti histamine and mast cell stabiliser
- Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) – good for the digestive system and has a calming effect on the body
I mainly add the lemon balm for taste reasons, but it is a powerful herb on its own. And one of the things that it is known to be beneficial for is the digestive system, which is always a good thing :). For more info about all of these herbs, see the references below.
I bought the different dried herbs for this blend (See resources below). But you can of course also grow them yourself in your garden (provided you have a garden or a place to grow herbs), and then dry harvest and dry them for tea yourself. The only one that might be a bit tricky is the moringa, which is a tree. This year I have two of the herbs in my garden, namely lemon balm and nettle. I don’t have a lot of nettle though, because I eradicated them all two years ago. But since I learned how great they are as a herb for teas, pesto, soup etc, I don’t view them as a weed I need to get rid off anymore 😉 Next year I’m planting Holy Basil along with the other types of basil I normally plant. But my garden is too small to plant a tree in, so getting a moringa tree, has to wait until we move, if ever 😉
Now for making the blend you literally just have to mix equal parts of the four different herbs, and store them in a dark container suitable for teas. The ratio can be varied according to your individual taste. Like I said easy peasy, and barely even a recipe. I hope you will enjoy the tea as much as I do, and feel the benefits from it as well.
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PinIngredients
- Moringa (Moringa Oleifera) – dried
- Holy Basil (Ocimum Tenuiflorum) – dried
- Nettle (Urtica Dioica) – dried
- Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) – dried
Instructions
- Mix equal parts of the four different herbs, the ratio can be varied according to your individual taste.
- Store them in a dark container suitable for teas.
- You need about 1 heaped teaspoon of the blend for one cup of tea, adjust the concentration to your liking. Make the tea with hot water, not boiling. Enjoy 🙂
Resources:
Like I mentioned above you can grow these herbs in your garden and dry them for tea. Or you can run out and buy them like I did, the only one that might prove tricky to find in stores is the moringa oleifera leaves. In order to help you a little bit on your way, I have comprised a list of links to comparable products used in this post. Since I know that you are all sitting in different parts of the world, I have included links from the Netherlands (where I live), the UK, Australia and the US. If you live somewhere else, and need help finding a product online, please let me know and I will see if I can help you. no guarantees though, as there are also limits to my abilities, especially if it is in a language I don’t speak 😉
In all disclosure the links to amazon (US and UK) below are affiliate links, which means that if you click on to the product in question and buy it, I get a small commission. This will hopefully help me to cover some of the costs to running this blog. However, this does not cost you anything additional when you order through one of these links.
US/amazon.com links
Moringa Oleifera tea, Holy Basil (Tulsi) tea, Lemon Balm tea, Nettle tea
The UK/amazon.co.uk links
Moringa Oleifera tea, Holy Basil (Tulsi) tea, Lemon Balm tea, Nettle tea
The Netherlands
The dried moringa leaves I purchased from “Moringa’s Finest”, they are dutch based and have a wide selection of moringa products 🙂
The lemon balm (citroenmelisse) and the nettle (brandnetel) I bought at “ekoplaza”. If you can’t find it in the store, they have a larger selection online ;). And the Holy Basil (Tulsi) tea, I found at my local Turkish supermarket. But you can buy that at ekoplaza too.
Australia
All the herbs can be ordered at austral herbs.
References:
- 21 Anti-histamine Foods That Fight Inflammation And Stabilise Mast-Cells by Alison Vickery
- Evaluation of Moringa oleifera Aqueous Extract for Antinociceptive and Anti-Inflammatory Activities in Animal Models. M.R. Sulaiman, Z.A. Zakaria, A.S. Bujarimin, M.N. Somchit, D.A. Israf & S. Moin. Pharmaceutical Biology Vol. 46 , Iss. 12,2008
- Moringa Benefits Hormonal Balance, Digestion, Mood & More by Dr. Axe
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Holy Basil! Anti-Inflammatory And Anti-Histamine Superstar by Healing Histamine
- G Sridevi, P Gopkumar, S Ashok, C Shastry. Pharmacological Basis For Antianaphylactic, Antihistaminic And Mast Cell Stabilization Activity Of Ocimum Sanctum. The Internet Journal of Pharmacology. 2008 Volume 7 Number 1.
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WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants – Volume 2 (2004; 358 pages)
Lovely! I’m making some right now! I only have powdered moringa though. Hoping that’ll do.
Thanks!
★★★★★
Great 😀 I’m sure it works fine with the powdered moringa too 🙂 How did it turn out?
Hi I was looking for some tea blends and this looks helpful, thank you.
However, what is this?
“Now for making the blend you literary just have to mix equal …”
Literary? No. You mean “literally”.
Hi Jill,
Non native english speaker Here 😉 fixed the language mistake, should be okay now 😉
Watch out with the nettles!!! I never did understand why I never got the touted antihistamine effects from nettles (did daily overnight cold steeps for months) and just recently realized it triggers histamine for me! I did notice feeling a boost of energy from the nettles, coincidentally something histamine also does. Only put it together when I added nettles to my morning tea today after not taking it for months. The sinus congestion was immediate! Apparently, nettles are high in histamine themselves, so depending on the cause of the histamine intolerance they may or may not make things worse.
(I miss nettles… They really did help my menstrual cramps, though.)
Indeed nettles can be tricky. Nettles are both a source of histamine as well as having antihistamine properties. If they are causing you to react, even in small doses, then definitely leave them out.
A mix of moringa and holy basil is also a nice anti-inflammatory / antihistamine tea blend without nettles.
Tania
If your histamine intolerance is due to menopause and estrogen issues would nettles be ok? Like you I’ve been doing the long infusions for years. I’ve recently started HRT in post menopause as it is unbearable but told I’ve got histamine issues.
Hello! Happy to find your humble article! And the fact that you respond to the comments! (heart!) So my question is, how many cups per day to get the anti-histamine effect? As well… I’ve ordered some pea sprouting bags as I’ve read that builds up the DAO in your system and I’m thinking of getting one of those DAO histamine blockers for the times I know it’s going to be a heavy histamine meal (i.e. when I get my homemade jello pudding) – gelatin sets me off big time… But in the meantime, I’d like to give my body a change to build up lots of DAO itself through natural healing ways such as your tea! Thanks and I look forward to your answer!
P.S…. we stayed in Eindhoven on a European tour we did in 2016!!!
Hi Christina,
Love that you <3 that I reply to comments, and then I fail to reply to yours for half a year. #Covid => 2020 was a weird year.
1-3 cups a day should be good. And yea pea sprouts are an amazing source of DAO.
Tania
I also thought that nettle would be a good idea to calm down my body (anti-itching in particular)
but today I found that nettle was in the AVOID column in this SIGHI-redacted list:
https://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/downloads/SIGHI-Leaflet_HistamineEliminationDiet.pdf
Any thoughts?
Hi 🙂
Yes I do actually have some thought about that 😉 Also included them in a post a while back: https://histaminefriendlykitchen.com/anti-inflammatory-nettle-soup/
It is frustrating with all the conflicting info floating around. All of the different lists, which don’t always agree with each other. And then to make matters more complex sometimes you come across an item of food which is listed as high histamine but also have antihistamine properties. It is so confusing at times. All in all, I really think it is important to focus on the fact that there is NO “one list fits all” when it comes to histamine intolerance. It is all about listening to your body and creating your own list – what is good for me and what is not good for me? That is the question only you can truly answer. And remember this also evolves over time, so keep reevaluating your list.
Tania