There is the concern of licorice affecting BP. If you don’t have BP concerns or if you are not taking large amounts of licorice with glycyrrhizic acid (the phytochemical that affects BP), you can defiinitely use licorice to sweeten your tea.

so glad you are enjoying it!

Interested to know what you think of using Licorice instead of honey. Doesn’t the Licorice elevate BP?

The leaves does have medicinal value. It is on par with the berries for cardiovascular health and is full of antioxidants with that added benefit of having the tea flavor.

Most Crataegus species are interchangeable and medicinal. You do want to make sure that your tree isn’t an ornamental variety.

Pick the berries at peak ripeness- sometime mid october is a general rule, but could be as early as september or as late as december. When picking for medicine, you can pick later.

You can definitely adapt any of my recipes to suit your tastes. Licorice does add sweetness.