Botanical Name: Agastache foeniculum

Energetics: Slightly warming, very drying

Major Properties:  Antiemetic, antiviral, antifungal

Examples of Uses: Summer colds, nausea, vomiting, edema

Parts Used: Leaves and flowers

Preparations:

Fresh - eat a leaf for relief from those damp, boggy summer colds that seem to linger forever!

Tea - another very tasty way for relief or prevention of summer colds. I've wondered how it might even help with the watery eyes of allergies?

Tincture - of leaves and flowers Honey - add flowers for a lovely flavored and scented herbal honey.

Add fresh or dried flowers to ice cream or sorbet recipes, iced tea, sprinkled on salads

Dry for winter use

Personal Observations:

Anise Hyssop (AH) is one of my favorite garden plants. It has a lovely scent - consider planting along a walking path where one can brush against its foliage and be delighted by its fragrance. And it makes the most delicious tea, too. I'll often make a summer tea with AH, lemon balm, and fresh stevia leaf (I don't like the taste and especially aftertaste of powdered stevia). It is also lovely as an iced tea and works equally well in a cold decoction or sun tea.

As far as medicinal uses, it is my go-to for summer colds - those colds that linger with full, drippy nasal passages and heaviness and you just feel yucky. AH is a very drying plant, one of the most drying plants in our herbal apothecary, so if very efficient at relieving those congested, drippy, heavy kinds of colds. If you often get summer colds, you could also try drinking AH tea regularly as a preventative measure. I, personally, don't use AH tincture or tea much in the winter when the air can be quite dry, as AH is then too drying for me. However, in the humidity of summer, it is particularly useful for most persons.