Today I harvested some German Chamomile flowers, and I’ll be drying them to make loose-leaf Chamomile tea. This is my first year growing Chamomile, and I only got one plant to survive from seed. I drink a lot of tea, so I’ll surely plant more next year.
I did some research before harvesting my flowers. The basic idea is pick the flowers, dry them, then use them in your tea. Here are a few tips I learned:
-Pick flowers early in the morning, but after the dew has dried. Pinch the flowers off just below the flower head to stimulate the plant to continue producing flowers.
-Dry the flowers in a warm, yet dry & dark location on a screen. The quicker the flowers dry out, the more essential oils are held in the dried flower. When the flowers are completely dry, store them in an airtight container in a dark, dry location.
-The flower head & petals are both used in the tea. Don’t break the dried flower apart until you’re ready to make your tea (this keeps it freshest). To make tea add 2 tsp dried flowers to 1 cup boiling water, steep covered for 10 minutes (covering your tea keeps the valuable oils from escaping).
*I didn’t find one particularly great reference website about Chamomile. But here are a few I learned from: here, here, and here.
If you let them go to seed, you should see more popping up… but just a thought: With things like chamomile that are supposed to be rampant resowers but that I have trouble starting from seed indoors, I’ve had good luck with Winter Sowing. I can send you some basic info via email (just send me a message) or you can google it. It’s way easy, and not at all expensive–it also will let you recycle things like milk cartons!