Pleasant Grove Review | 1948-12-17 | Page 6 | Christmas Holly Makes Tasty Tea

Christmas Holly Makes Tasty Tea Holly is useful for something besides be-sides Christmas wreaths. Yaupon, a shrub Which grows profusely in certain sections of North Carolina, can be brewed into tea and is actually on the menu of one Carolinian Caro-linian hotel. It's an old story to old-timers of the region. They've been drinking' Yaupon tea for centuries and swear that it has all kinds of good qualities. qual-ities. The Indians before them used it, and John Lawson, an early historian, histori-an, said the shrub was so highly valued that it was carried into the inland where it fetched a fabulous price from Indian tribes. Actually, Yaupon is an American holly, but is closely akin to Mate, the drink so popular in South America. Both drinks are prepared pre-pared much the same way. The leaves are cured with hot stones in a barrel and then chopped up, twigs included, and dried out in an oven. Leaves and twigs are then steeped in hot water and syrup, orange juice, lemon juice and cinnamon are added. So at Christmas, instead of throwing away that dried up wreath, try brewing it up into a pot of tea.