Yaupon is mentioned again and again in writings about the European exploration and recent history of North Carolina. I have been intending to explore Yaupon in more depth and was jarred out of my procrastination yesterday by a piece of Yaupon serendipitously washed up on Hatteras beach. Sometimes the sea gives us reminders of what we need to attend to next.
Click here to see other pictures of Yaupon.
John Lawson in his 1709 journal, Voyage to Carolina [republished in 1967 by UNC Press and also available as a free download from the Gutenberg Project by clicking here] reports that Yaupon "is the Indian Tea, us'd and approv'd by all the Savages on the Coast of Carolina, from them sent to the Westward Indians, and sold at a considerable Price" (p. 98 of the 1967 edition). This endorsement obviously offers the hint of the basis for a strong marketing campaign if the demand for Yaupon tea ever takes off again...
In Lawson's telling, the Yaupon leaves are crushed in a morter, baked and stirred in pot until the crushed leaves begin to smoke, and then are dried in the sun. Lawson claimed that the Native Americans drank this as a tea and that the Spanish colonists along the coast of Florida drank this, after pounding it to a powder which was filtering, as a coffee. Lawson says that the Spanish preferred their Yaupon beverage "above all Liquids, to drink with Physick, to carry the same safely thro' the Passages, for which it is admirable, as I myself have experimented" (p. 98 again). The purgative nature of Yaupon beverages is the basis for the specific name vomatoria and one has to admire Lawson's dedication and willingness to experiment with such potentially "explosive" substances.
Apparently, however, Yaupon makes a tolerable tea in milder doses. Ben Dixon MacNeill, in his engaging history of Hatteras Island, reminds us that for many years after the Revolutionary War, European-descended inhabitants of the new United States lost much of their desire for British tea and, at least to some extent, substituted yaupon tea. British tea made a comeback but, for much of this time, the two main exports from the Outer Banks of North Carolina were fish and yaupon tea. With the Civil War and the Union blockades of the Confederate ports, coffee was scarce and yaupon tea once again became the stimulant beverage of necessity (perhaps not of choice) in parts of North Carolina. MacNeill goes on to say (p. 105) that "20,000 Federal troops quartered on the Island at one time or another [during the Civil War] drank yoepon [sic] tea because there was nothing else to drink, and it did assuage dysentery. Afterword there came letters from Indiana, from Massachusetts and New York--these I have seen--inquiring if it were possible to get some of that tea the writer had while he was stationed around here."
It's been some 300 years since the explorer Lawson experimented with Yaupon tea and 150 years since Yankee visitors did the same. It's probably time again for some of us to become acquainted with the flavor and other, uh, properties of the tea from this native species. I'll keep you posted on the results.
Note added 28 February 2012. After writing the above, I came across another blog with a contemporary recipe for Yaupon tea. Here is the recipe from Mary Warshaw's blog.
"Yaupon tea is still enjoyed by some long-time residents of remote coastal areas. This recipe below is from Mr. Ira Lewis, Harkers Island, NC, courtesy the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center.
PREPARING YAUPON TEA
LEAF PREPARATION: Strip the outer, small leaves of the branch. Chop leaves & twigs with hatchet removing any larger twigs.To parch: Heat leaves in medium-to-hot (400 degres) oven in a dry skillet or pan, turning often for about 15 minutes or until leaves turn to light – medium brown color. If leaves start to smoke, remove from heat immediatly. Remove form oven to cool.
BREWING STAGE: Add one cup yaupon leaves to 1 to 1 ‡ quarts boiling water. Cook on low biol until water turns dark amber in color. Remove from heat and strain the mixture into another heat-resistant pitcher. Brewed leaves may be discarded, or used again for a smaller, weaker quantity of tea. Add sugar and/or lemon before chilling. Can be drunk hot or cold. Milk may be added to the hot mixture – much like you would drink coffee."
Bibliography
- Duncan, Wilbur H., and Marion B. Duncan. 1987. The Smithsonian Guide to Seaside Plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
- Lawson, John. 1967. A New Voyage to Carolina edited with an Introduction and Notes by Hugh Talmage Lefler. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
- MacNeill, Ben Dixon. 2008. The Hatterasman [Fiftieth Anniversary Edition], edited by John F. Loonam, Jr. with a new introduction by Philip Gerard. The Publishing Laboratory, Wilmington, NC.
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