Have you ever tried rooibos? This member of the legume family, endemic to South Africa, is a lovely caffeine-free herbal tea with health benefits comparable to green teas. And, we're lucky enough to have a local distributor!

Lifespan Tea, owned by Sandy von Tagen, sells organic, kosher and fair trade certified rooibos and its relative honeybush in the Treasure Valley and online. Von Tagen started her business to help share the health benefits of rooibos and honeybush with others and to promote South African teas. Lifespan Tea's products include red rooibos, green rooibos, honeybush and a variety of flavored red rooibos blends such as chai, pumpkin spice, vanilla, and red passion. Rooibos also substitutes into recipes easily – just use it in place of any nondairy liquid to add body and subtle flavor to dishes. Once you start thinking of ideas they just keep coming: we want to make a chai rooibos chocolate cake and a rooibos bean soup. Lifespan Tea carries a cookbook with enough recipes to get you started.

Lifespan Tea is based in Homedale and can be found Wednesdays at the Caldwell Farmers Market with free samples of their line of rooibos and honeybush teas. For more information or to order online visit http://www.lifespantea.com/.

We decided to try Lifespan Tea's rooibos in a fresh summery punch with seasonal fruits and flowers and a hint of citrus. This recipe's amounts were made with a small family in mind, but if doubled or tripled it would fit right in at a larger barbeque or outdoor party. The flower petals look beautiful floating atop a wide punch bowl; for an added touch, freeze the petals inside your ice cubes or ice ring.

Make this throughout the summer with different fruits and flowers as they become available. Look for local strawberries and cherries in early to mid June, and keep an eye out for edible flowers that are blooming now, such as rose, bachelor's button, chicory, dandelion, calendula, Dianthus and Flanders poppy. The honey in this recipe is available at the Caldwell Farmers Market through Oasis Honey, and various vendors carry fruit in season.

SUMMER FRUITS & FLOWERS ROOIBOS PUNCH

• Start to finish: 10 minutes hands-on
• Servings: 5

Ingredients:

• 5 teabags (7 ½ teaspoons loose leaf) of Lifespan Tea's Red Rooibos or Summer Fruit & Flowers Rooibos
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup sugar or ½ cup honey
• 1 cup lemon or lime juice
• 3 cups cold water
• 1 cup fresh fruit or berries
• ½ cup fresh edible flower petals

Method:

• Place rooibos in heat-safe glass vessel and add 2 cups of boiling water. Let steep until cool.
• Remove tea bags or strain out loose leaf tea. Add sweetener and stir until combined.
• In a blender, mix sweetened rooibos, citrus juice and fruit or berries until smooth and frothy.
• Pour mixture into a serving pitcher or punch bowl, add 3 cups of cold water, and stir. Garnish with flower petals and serve with plenty of ice.

(Originally published in the Idaho Press-Tribune in 2015.)