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Produce Briefs...
Ramps
The wild ramp, AKA wild leek, botanical name Allium tricoccum, is a flowering perennial plant that grows in clusters. It is a member of the Allium family along with onions and leeks
Calamondin Limes
The Calamondin lime is a cross between a sour, loose skinned mandarin and a kumquat, therefore technically making it an orangequat.
Salanova® Lettuces
Salanova® lettuce is a full-sized variety developed for the baby lettuce market. Botanically these varieties are scientifically known as Lactuca sativa.
Description/Taste
Woolly Blue Curls are an evergreen shrub that is native to California. This shrub is recognizable for its violet and deep purple colored flowers that are formed in clusters with narrow stems and very long stamens. Woolly Blue Curls get their name from the tiny fibrous and white hairs that cover the flower buds and stem. Having similar foliage to the common rosemary, this shrub gives off a sweet, bubblegum like aroma.
Seasons/Availability
Woolly Blue Curls can be found blooming at the start of the spring time and throughout the summer and early fall months.
Current Facts
A member of the Mint family, the Woolly Blue Curls are known scientifically as Trichostema lanatum. This plant species also has the common names "California Rosemary" and "American Wild Rosemary."
Nutritional Value
Woolly Blue Curl flowers have various medicinal properties specifically when the flowers are used to brew tea. Woolly Blue Curl flower tea offers anti-inflammatory properties and can be used as a treatment to sooth cold, flu, headache and even nose bleeds symptoms.
Applications
The Woolly Blue Curl flowers are most commonly used in a dried form for tea, which offers a sweet flavor with mellow pine-like undertones. Additionally, the Wooly Blue Curl flowers being an edible blossom can be used as a garnish for cakes, desserts and even cocktails.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
When discovered by the Spanish conquistadors in California, they named this plant "romero," due to its resemblance to the rosemary herb.
Geography/History
Woolly Blue Curls are native to California and other southern coastal regions of the United States. Being of the genus Trichostema, this plant is solely found in North America and has a large range from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast as well as from central Mexico to southern Canada. Traditionally, Woolly Blue Curls were used by the Native Americans in a dried form to steep into tea.
