Saturday, September 6, 2008

Camomile

I am loving camomile!
It smells so wonderful. It smells kind of like apples. I pick the flowers off every couple days & put them on this saucer to dry. This is about how much I get when I pick. The size of this plate is pretty small, it's a saucer for my tea cups.
In a few days when they have dried, I put them in this little half pint jar. I leave the lid off for continued drying.
I keep both of these on top of my microwave. And every few days I pick & dry some more.
I've only had 1 cup of plain camomile tea, that was back when they first started blooming. The directions for camomile tea are:
Use 1 T. fresh camomile flowers
or 1 t. dried flowers
Steep in boiling water for 5-7 minutes. Add sugar or honey to taste.
I drink regular hot tea in the mornings, & sometimes I will add just 1 dried flower to my cup, & it really flavors it so nicely. It's wonderful! This is probably how I will usually drink it. Although, a cup of nice camomile tea in the evening during the fall & winter is sure relaxing! I'm looking forward to using my own, instead of the Celestial Seasonings.
:)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's awesome, Jane! You're getting a lot off of your plant. I had finally started harvesting mine about a month ago but in a fit of spectacular stupidity one night I forgot and screwed the lid on the jar before they were completely dry and lost the whole lot to mold. I think I'll use the dehydrator to completely dry them from now on.

Lori L said...

I love chamomile! It looks like you are really getting quite a few flowers and you should still be able to harvest more before a killing freeze.

Jane said...

On no Crissy! I'm glad you still have more camomile to continue drying. I've never used a dehydrator. How do you like it?

Hi Lori!
I really am getting a lot of flowers for no more than I planted. My little half pint jar is actually getting closer to full.

Pam said...

How wonderful that you have grown and dried your own tea. Chamomile is so soothing and good for you.