How do you make homemade Chamomile Tea?

Question

I have started growing herbs, such as Chamomile, and I am not sure how to harvest or utilize them. Which part of the plant do you cut off and dry? I have no clue about this!

Answer 1

For Chamomile, the flower is the part used, although it is okay if you accidentally get a few leaves. The best time to harvest is morning - after the dew has dried but before the heat causes flowers to close or droop. Clean cut flowers can be put into a brown paper sack and hung on a line in the attic or other warm, dark, dry place. Check after one week. Dried flowers are brittle.

To make tea, use 1 rounded teaspoon dried flowers or 2-1/2 teaspoons fresh per cup of boiling water. Put flowers in cup or pot and pour hot water over. Cover and let sit 5 minutes, then strain out the herb. You can use a tea strainer or I like Mini Minit one-cup paper filters.

Some herbs I dry by cutting the whole stem, like Thyme, Oregano & Rosemary. I pin them up by the stem in the warmest room in the house (kitchen?). When dry, then I remove the leaves and store in jars in the cabinet.

I usually don't wash my herbs before drying unless they've got mud splatter or have come from a garden where dogs & cats have access. Washing just prolongs the drying process, like harvesting with dew still on them.

Answer 2

what you'll need:

chamomile flowers

a stove

a pot

water

sugar or honey, according to your preference

Step1

Chamomile flowers.

First of all, you need to find chamomile flowers. These are usually fairly easy to find. They're little white flowers with a yellow centre, much like smaller versions of daisies, and they tend to grow close to the gound over large areas, so you won't be tromping through the woods all day looking for them and only finding a few. If you find one decently sized patch, you probably don't need to go any further.

Once you find a patch, pick the flowers. They're small, but you shouldn't have much problem getting a handful or two.

Step2At home, fill a pot or pan with water and set it on the stove to boil. Rinse off the chamomile flowers with cool water. When the water gets hot, throw in some of the chamomile flowers to steep. About two or three teaspoons of the flower for every cup of water is a good balance. The flowers can be either fresh or dried; it makes no difference.

Step3Let the water boil and the flowers steep for a few minutes, then pour the liquid into a cup. If you get any flower petals in your cup, it's not a big concern unless you don't like the texture of them. In which case, I recommend pouring the liquid through a strainer of some kind to sift out any petals.

As sugar or honey, according to which you like best in tea, let cool a little bit, and then drink and enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

Chamomile tea is good for soothing anxiety and tension, and is also good to use to calm upset stomachs and ease the pain of irritable bowel syndrome and menstrual cramps.



I find chamomile tea goes better with the natural taste of honey rather than the refined taste of white sugar (brown sugar wouldn't go well with this tea at all).



Many herbs can be made into teas this way, but be careful to make sure you know exactly what you're using, the effects of the herb, and whether or not you're allergic. Chamomile isn't harmful in teas (unless you happen to be allergic, but I have yet to hear of a specific chamomile allergy), though other herbs can be quite dangerous. Always do research beforehand.

HOPE I HELPED!