Preparing currant/raspberry/melissa leaves for tea for the winter at home. There are two ways - how to dry the leaves, how to freeze them.
How nice it is in winter to come home after a frosty walk and drink hot, aromatic tea, with the smell of currant leaves and mint. To enjoy such moments, let's take care of it in advance, now is the time.
The simplest herbs for flavoring tea, available to everyone, are currant and raspberry leaves, as well as garden mint and lemon balm. However, be careful with mint, it is not good for men. You can prepare it separately.
Preparing currant/mint/raspberry leaves for tea at home, step-by-step photos
Let's look at two ways to prepare herbs for tea at home - drying and freezing. The first method is simpler, and the second is more flavorful.
Method 1. Drying.
How to dry currant leaves for tea, as well as raspberry leaves and lemon balm herb.
Everything is very simple here. If you are sure that the plants are clean, we dry them like this; if they are dirty, dusty, we wash them and dry them well.
We cut large branches of lemon balm (or mint) into several parts and dry the leaves whole.
We lay the raw materials in one layer on clean paper in a dry, ventilated place and wait until they are completely dry.
We collect dry leaves and put them in clean jars or boxes. Close the container tightly. Prepared in this way, tea leaves retain their aroma for up to six months.
Method 2. Freezing.
Preparing currant/raspberry/melissa leaves for tea by freezing.
Let's collect currant, raspberry, mint or lemon balm leaves from the garden.
If you are sure that the plants are clean, then you don’t have to wash them.
If the bushes were treated with any means, or you collected the raw materials not on your site, rinse the leaves in running water.
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Then you need to dry everything well: shake off excess water and lay it on a towel. When the leaves dry out a little, wipe each leaf so that there is not a drop of water. This is very important if you want to get a high-quality workpiece. |
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Now, take the prepared dried currant and raspberry leaves, as well as mint or lemon balm herb in small portions and cut into centimeter strips. We do this so that later it is easy to separate the required portion for brewing. |
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We put the grass in freezer bags, carefully so as not to damage the leaves, squeeze out the air, and form a sausage. We secure the package and glue the label. That's it, you can put it in the freezer for storage. |
Herbs prepared for tea by freezing will retain their aroma throughout the winter and will give you a great mood.
Attention! This method is the simplest and most useful, BUT! If you think that in winter you will enjoy aromatic, delicious tea made from currant leaves, we hasten to disappoint you. Dried currant leaves have a weak aroma and taste, and when brewed with boiling water, it smells more like hay than the aroma of ripe berries. The leaf, dried naturally, is suitable for treatment - making decoctions, infusions and other medicines. But for aromatic, delicious currant tea, the preparation of leaves is completely different - complex with fermentation (method 2).
But everything is in order. Let's start with the main thing - preparing currant leaves for the winter for treatment
The currant bush from which leaves are planned to be collected should not have been treated against pests with all kinds of chemicals. Choose healthy young shoots that are not affected by infectious diseases and pests.
Photo from the site smorodina1.ru
From the very top of the bush, cut a branch with two or three pairs of leaves. This can be done with pruning shears, scissors, or simply with your hands, breaking the fragile process. The leaves should not be wet; collection is carried out in dry weather, after waiting for the dew to dry.
The prepared branches are tied into small bundles of 4-6 branches for better and faster drying.
photo from the site smorodina1.ru You can dry the leaves without branches, then they are carefully laid out on a tray in one layer. This drying method takes up a lot of space and is not always convenient.
The bunches are hung in a warm, well-ventilated room; currant leaves should not be dried in the sun.
photo from the site smorodina1.ru Leave them for 7 days, during which time the leaves will wither and dry out.
photo from the site smorodina1.ru Leaves that are under-dried will not last long and may quickly become moldy. The degree of drying can be checked by picking up a leaf; it should break easily, the same applies to twigs. If you are not sure that the leaves have dried well, then they can be placed in an oven heated to 100 degrees for just a few minutes.
Dried leaves can be stored whole or broken into pieces. It is better to take a glass container with a tight-fitting lid in which to store currant leaves. Be sure to dry the jar if it has been washed; even the smallest drop of water will definitely ruin your work.
Thanks to the fashion for everything natural, many are switching to teas prepared with their own hands, from environmentally friendly herbs and leaves of plants that grow in the country.
As we already wrote, . I decided to make it with currants.
I collected about a kilogram of leaves from a currant bush in the evening. I chose the darkest leaves. Tea made from them should taste brighter than tea made from very young leaves. True, they are more difficult to process, as they are quite tough.
Unlike other plants (), currant and raspberry leaves require a slightly different harvesting procedure, but it is shorter in time.
I put all the leaves in 4 plastic bags, tied them and placed them in the freezer. After two hours, the leaves need to be thawed. After thawing, they become softer and juicier. This is what we need.
We take 2-3 leaves (the number depends on the hardness of the leaves), remove any protruding branches from them, they will interfere with curling, and roll the leaves into a tube. This can be done on the table and then between the palms to make the tubes more dense.
Place the folded leaves in a container (bucket or cup).
Since currant or raspberry leaves have difficulty releasing their juice, it is better to cover the prepared tubes with a plate and place a weight on it.
The top of the container must be covered with a damp cotton cloth. This period is called fermentation. It should take about 5 hours. Since I prepared the tubes in the evening, they stood under the load all night (7 hours).
In the morning, I cut them into pieces up to 0.5 centimeters in size and laid them out on a sheet. We dry the leaves in the oven for about an hour at a temperature of 80-100 degrees (the door should be slightly open). Don't forget to stir periodically.
Then dry it at a temperature of 50 degrees. As a result, the tea capsules should break and not crumple. But don’t overdry the tea, otherwise it will lose its aroma and taste!
When the tea has cooled, pour it into a natural bag or pillowcase and dry it outside in the shade (if it’s sunny) or in the room (if it’s rainy).
You can store tea in glass, plastic or wooden containers with a lid, in a dark, dry place. It can be brewed within a month after preparation.
To brew this tea, pour 1-2 spoons per person into a teapot and brew 250 ml of boiling water. After 15 minutes, the tea can be drunk without diluting with hot water. A portion can be brewed 2-3 times.
And in winter, you can surprise your guests with aromatic tea if, in addition to currants, you can prepare other leaves and mix them with each other.
Have a nice aromatic tea party!
Main photo: ayamama.ru. Photo report by Elena Bazhenova
To obtain useful herbal infusions, it is not at all necessary to go into the forest - you can collect medicinal foliage in every area where currants grow. But this plant will be quite enough to stock up on aromatic vitamin preparations. The main thing is to know how to properly collect, dry and store currant greens. This is what we will talk about today.
When to collect
Each plant has its own phases of life. In order for it to accumulate as many useful substances as possible and be able to act as a medicine, it must be collected at a time when the maximum amount of useful elements is present in its above-ground and underground parts.
Important! It is better to take young surface leaves that have not yet acquired a thick green tint.
Currants have many varieties that differ in both flowering time and fruiting period. Therefore, it is quite difficult to clearly answer at what time the leaves of this shrub should be collected. The main guiding point is the formation of the first flowers. It is at this stage that the highest number of elements such as:
Important! You cannot remove all the foliage from a branch.
Some gardeners are sure that it is necessary to prepare material for teas and tinctures during certain lunar cycles. And the ideal moment for collecting is the period of growth of this celestial body. It was at this time that the plant accumulated a maximum of vitamins and other useful substances.
Drinks are prepared both from succulent leaves, which can be collected all summer, and from dried leaves. But then you need to take care of the proper preparation of supplies for the winter.
Drying
This is the most democratic and easiest way to harvest foliage. They dry both at home and on an industrial scale.
At home, the material is dried the old way - in the open air, in the shade. The ideal place is considered to be a shed or attic. To obtain a preparation that will be stored all winter, the leaves are spread on a flat surface, on paper or a clean cloth. Leave the spread out material for a week.
From time to time, the leaves need to be stirred and watched so that mold does not appear on them. The readiness of raw materials for storage can be determined by their fragility: as soon as the leaves become brittle, they can be placed for storage.
Important! You cannot use newspaper for drying, since printing inks contain toxic substances.
You can also use a regular oven. For the first 15 minutes, the greens are dried at a temperature of 100°C, then reduced to 60°C and left until thoroughly dry.
If your home has an electric dryer, you can use that too. Just be sure to check so that the raw material does not dry out or brown.
In production, leaves are dried in two ways: by twisting or in drying chambers.
Storage
The dried material is stored in canvas bags or in hermetically sealed glass containers. The place where the workpiece will stand must be dry, cool and well ventilated.
Spices and other products with an intense odor should not be placed next to the finished raw materials.
Prevention of currant diseases: how to cure plant leaves
Measures to protect currant bushes should begin in the spring, before sap flow begins.
First, “hot” treatment of the bushes is carried out. It will help protect against pests and diseases and ensure full development and a bountiful harvest. The method consists of watering the bushes with eighty-degree water (10 liters per 3 bushes). After the shower, pruning should be done to get rid of damaged and weak shoots.
Before buds open, you can spray the bushes with a two percent solution of karbofos or nitrafen. After some time, you can reinforce the result by treating the plant with Bordeaux mixture.
Did you know? Currants got their name from the Old Russian word “currant”, which meant “strong aroma”.
Beneficial features
Currant greens are rich in vitamins and minerals essential for the human body. It contains:
- organic acids;
- (vitamin E);
- pectin;
- silver;
- glycosides;
- cyanidin;
- delphinidin.
Thanks to vitamin C, blackcurrant greens serve as an excellent expectorant, antipyretic and antiseptic. Drinks made from currants smooth out cold discomfort, help reduce fever, soften the symptoms of laryngitis, inflammation of the tonsils and pharyngitis.
The plant has a diuretic and diaphoretic effect, helps remove toxins, puric and uric acid from the body.
Potassium helps normalize water-salt balance and regulates the acid-base composition of the blood. Currant green teas help restore blood pressure and strengthen the heart.
Currants also have cleansing properties that can effectively combat diathesis, skin dermatitis, and prickly heat.
Drinks made from leaves
Methods for preparing vitamin drinks based on the gifts of nature have been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times. And they have survived to this day almost unchanged.
Did you know? Tibetan medicine uses currant leaves to treat tuberculosis of the lymph glands, genitourinary diseases, heart diseases and general painful conditions.
Tea
Currant leaves are often used individually, or in combination with other medicinal herbs or with regular, unflavored tea.
To prepare a vitamin drink, the leaves are mixed with plain tea (or other herbs) in equal proportions, a tablespoon of the mixture is poured into 0.5 liters of boiling water and brewed in a closed container for 20-30 minutes.
If desired, tea can be made without additives. In this case, simply take a tablespoon of dry leaves (fresh - 2 tablespoons), pour in 0.5 liters of boiling water and leave for 20 minutes.
These teas help strengthen the immune system and improve well-being.
Decoction
In case of serious illnesses or after operations, it is recommended to speed up the rehabilitation process drink decoctions of currant greens. They have an excellent effect in the treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cystitis, acute pyelonephritis and skin diseases.
The drink is prepared simply: 5 tbsp. Place a tablespoon of leaves and berries in an airtight container (preferably a thermos), pour a liter of boiling water and let it brew for 40-60 minutes. You need to drink 5-6 glasses a day.
Infusion
To get a vitamin infusion, you don’t need much effort: pour some crushed leaves (preferably with berries) into 300 ml of hot water. After this, the container is wrapped in a towel or thick cloth and left for 4-5 hours.
This drink is drunk in a glass in the morning and evening. It helps cope with colds, reduce fever and get rid of cough.
If you add honey to dried leaves (3 tablespoons of greens, a spoonful of honey, 400 ml of water), you get a drink that can normalize blood pressure. Drink a glass of it three times a day.
Did you know? In some states of the USA, the cultivation of black currant is prohibited, since the plant is affected by a special disease that is dangerous for the relict tree - American pine.
Alcohol tincture
Making an alcohol tincture from currant leaves is very simple: crushed dried leaves are placed in a container, filling it almost completely, after which they are filled with alcohol or vodka. You need to insist for a day, in the dark, and then strain through cotton wool or gauze.
This may seem surprising to many, but currant leaves can be used for the production of various wines and liqueurs.
For example, to make currant wine you will need 70 pieces of leaves, 150 ml of vodka, 0.7 liters of red wine, 300 g of sugar. The leaves are poured with vodka and sent to a cool place for 10 days (preferably in the refrigerator). After this, wine and sugar are added to the mixture. The solution is thoroughly mixed and left for 10 days.
To summarize, it can be noted that currants are a real godsend for humans. The plant is quite unpretentious and can be cultivated even in northern conditions, bears fruit consistently and is characterized by a persistent aroma and bright taste. Therefore, anyone can prepare healthy teas and infusions at home.
Summer is a unique time when you can enjoy fresh vegetables, fruits and vegetables straight from the garden. But, in addition to this, it is possible to prepare healthy greens and medicinal herbs for the winter. In this article we will focus on how to dry raspberry and currant leaves.
First, let's look at the undoubted benefits of these plants. Raspberry leaves have diaphoretic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effects; tea made from them will become indispensable for colds, ARVI, bronchitis, as well as for diseases of the cardiovascular and digestive systems.
Currant leaves, brewed as tea, are a unique general strengthening remedy, since they contain biologically active and tannin substances, essential oils, vitamins and phytoncides. They contain more vitamin C than even the berries themselves. Therefore, tea is used as a cleansing, diuretic, antirheumatic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and tonic.
How to dry raspberry and currant leaves
Let us now dwell on how to dry raspberry (currant) leaves. Because only properly prepared raw materials retain all their beneficial properties, microelements and vitamins.
To achieve this goal, it must be mandatory to comply with a number of the following rules.
Firstly, you will definitely need to choose the right time to collect raw materials. Raspberry leaves can be picked only when they have blossomed on the bush, but not later than the moment when flowering has already passed and fruit buds have appeared.
Secondly, the best time of day for collecting leaves is the so-called “middle” morning, when the dew has already disappeared, but there is still no bright sunlight. But the leaves must be dry, not after rain.
Thirdly, you can dry the raw materials only under a canopy so that the grass does not burn. But, at the same time, it must be very dry so that it does not rot or turn black.
How to store dried raspberry and currant leaves
In addition to these rules, you must follow the principles of storing medicinal raw materials:
It should be stored in cloth and paper bags separately. But this is the ideal option. In addition, it is permissible to transfer the leaves into ceramic or glass containers with a very tight lid.
The maximum shelf life of raw materials is two years, but no more.
Typically, the leaves and currants are used to prepare decoctions and are also added to teas. In addition to the unique aroma, they will be able to fill them with vitamins, microelements and beneficial substances.
