Friday, January 6, 2012

Wint-o-greeeeeeeen!




I had no idea you could still buy Teaberry gum, but lo and behold here 'tis in a neighborhood frozen custard joint with old-timey pretensions.

Teaberry is just a minty chewing gum (from ye olde Clark company) flavored from the Eastern Teaberry, a strain of wintergreen plant, so it's that Life Savers kick instead of mere peppermint or spearmint.

In the 1960s, Herb Alpert & the Tiajuana Brass wrote a theme for this Teaberry commercial ...



Native Americans, though, did infuse teaberry leaves as a medicine. Teaberry plants are plentiful, particularly in the eastern U.S.; here's a site with detail about using it as an herbal tea. The Republic of Tea makes a Lemon Wintergreen blend that contains leaves and oil.

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