Oh the Joys of Basil. Basil is a leafy herb and is a member of the Mint Family. Did you know that? It is said to have a licorice/clove flavor. I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t really like licorice so don’t let that turn you off. The mixture of flavors is wonderful. In Taiwan they use basil leaves to thicken soups.
Tea of 100% Basil leaves is said to help level out your blood sugar, and calm stomach ailments. Here is a neat website with 10 ways to use Basil.
I’m not sure I’m up for a pure Basil tea but I discovered a cool way to add that touch of basil flavor to your regular iced tea.
Enjoy!
Basil Iced Tea
Step 1 Make Basil Syrup
Take 2 – 3 Cups Basil leaves (fresh)
¾ C water
Boil water and pour it over the leaves. Let steep 10 minutes (the longer the better till water cools if you can wait that long). Remove leaves.
Add 1 cup sugar ( OR ½ C Stevia and ½ C Sugar OR 1 C Stevia)
Bring to rolling boil stirring constantly and boil for 15 minutes
Set aside to cool You should end up with about ½ cup of syrup (maybe a little more)
Step 2
Make your iced tea flavor of choice but plain is best
You can do a second steep of the basil leaves to extract all the good flavor and use this with water to make the iced tea.
Step 3
Sweeten the iced tea with the basil syrup you’ve made above
OPTION 1
Make lemonade and freeze it into cubes in an iced tray. Use a couple/few of the lemonade cubes with regular ice in your tea
OPTION 2
Mix the iced tea with plain seltzer water. (75/25 or 50/50 depending on how much carbonation you like)
With or without the lemonade cubes
It sounds weird right? But it tastes wonderful. Especially at dinner with Italian type foods. 
Eden Glenn 