Fermented tea made from leaves of garden and wild plants (master class)

In hyssop, at the bottom, the twigs grow woody like in many annuals, and in this year's growth they are green like green twigs.
And the snakehead looks like a mint on the stem, maybe a little more tender, it depends on the conditions, no more tender.

[Vladimirovna]

who made strawberry leaf tea? what scent should it have?

Vladimirovna, any plant changes its smell during fermentation. Strawberry tea will not smell of pure strawberries. The smell is fruity-floral, but what - I can't say for sure.

Yesterday, late in the evening, I put it on fermentation, but the smell when slicing (after drying and freezing) is just grass-grass.

VladimirovnaAfter slicing, did you somehow crumple the leaves (like mashing cabbage before pickling)? Did you pass them with a rolling pin? Was the oppression placed during fermentation? I'm afraid that you sent dry mass for fermentation. My minced strawberry tea smelled like anything but grass. The mass was well damp.
I like granulated tea. It ferments better, takes up less volume and brews faster. If you make leaf tea, then you need to work hard to get a wet mass for good fermentation. You can even not cut the leaves with a knife - this will not really help you get juice. Freezing, hands (preferably male, strong), rolling pin - to help us with this.

[Oksana]

In hyssop, at the bottom, the twigs grow woody like in many annuals, and in this year's growth they are green like green twigs.

Oksana, the neighbor of this unknown sows every year. So this is not a hyssop.

[Eva3]

Strawberries smell very good both during fermentation and drying. And after a while, some kind of fruit smell appears in the jar. This is one of my favorites. I just didn't understand why not through a meat grinder? It is perfectly granulated when dried.

Eva3, Thank you ! My thoughts are one to one! Granulated strawberries are super tea!

[Angela]

Now I'm going to dry the cherries. Fermented for 7 hours, but the smell, as for me, is still leafy! How should they smell? Or else let them sour?

Angela, cherry is a special tea! Which, even at the stage of collecting the leaves and withering, smells like cherry, but not grass. And during fermentation, this smell gradually changes towards the "drunk" cherry.

I am guided by the author's comment about time, but there is a reservation. what could be more. I understand that it is better to let it be unworthy than to stop.

Angela, and I also wrote in the Ivan-tea recipe that it is very difficult to determine the exact time of fermentation. I fermented cherries for 3 hours and 36 hours. The result is always gorgeous! Even 3 hour tea smells great! In general, you have already done something with her. tell us later, okay?

[Angela]

Girls, another question. We dry for an hour at 100, and then reduce to 50-60 and how much more does it dry? Will I be in time today or not?

Angela, again it is difficult to tell how long the tea takes to dry. Depends on oven, layer thickness. I just wrote about this in Reply # 1617. Please see this answer. But there is no doubt that today you will bring tea to the stage of "final drying in a bag"!

Girls-nerds (in the good sense of the word))), tell me, please, is there a tree (or a large bush) similar to an apple tree, but some POISONOUS in the Moscow region? Don't laugh, I'm with plants on you, I'm afraid I'll make tea from the "poison" ...
We just bought a plot on the edge of the forest, and there are several small bushes without fruits, and the leaves look like something edible (apple-pear), I crumpled them - they smell delicious.And not far in the forest itself - I saw a kind of wild apple tree, but the apples are a little larger than cherries, and the leaves are similar to those that we have "in the garden", only there are very few of them, they are larger and lighter, and ours are dark, juicy and completely small (so I doubt it is the same plant, or different).
I want to try apple tea, but I'm afraid - won't I poison someone with my experiments?

Linga-Without a photo it's hard to say what is growing

Snakehead photo

And here's another with white flowers, friends had such.

[Angela]

Angela, cherry is a special tea! Which, even at the stage of collecting the leaves and withering, smells like cherry, but not grass.

So I have such a peculiar perception of smell.

And I also wrote in the Ivan-tea recipe that it is very difficult to determine the exact time of fermentation. I fermented cherries for 3 hours and 36 hours. The result is always gorgeous!

I fermented for 9 hours. Already started to smell like a bone.

you have already done something with her. tell us later, okay?

Oven dried. I'll post it out on the street tomorrow. The smell in the house was crazy! Now I smelled like cherries, not grass and perfume. I think it worked out!

Oksana, thank you for responding. About the fact that it is difficult to identify a plant without a photo, I understand that. But there is no way to insert this photo - I am now in the village, writing from my phone.
My question is exactly - is there something similar POISONOUS? (well, or hazardous to health)
(For example, as a child, my grandmother always said - you can't eat elderberries (we have a lot of them here) - you will get poisoned).
So I'm afraid - so as not to be poisoned by these leaves.

Yesterday a neighbor brought a huge bunch of grape leaves (three varieties). All night they were wrapped in fabrics, in the morning they began to transfer them to bags for freezing, and the fabric was hot (not warm). the first time this happened. Maybe it was already possible to put on fermentation, but my son and his family came to me, there is no time to deal with leaves.

Girls, who made grape tea?

Lyudmila, thank you very much! I never thought that I would be carried away by such an occupation. I love to drink tea like my grandmother taught me and taught me how to handle a samovar. But she never added herbs, she respected the Indian with the elephant. I think that during the war they brewed everything and apparently did not look at the grass anymore ... I am so fascinated by your article that I collect, dry, freeze, ferment ... Home people help with pleasure. Moreover, I also infected my friends, and now there are conversations about who collects which leaf and what smell the tea gets. Thank you very much!

[Angela]

Someone dried parsley, dill, basil in this way?

Angela, Dried, and I'm not alone. Only without fermentation. I twist the greens in a meat grinder and immediately send them to the dryer. It turns out so much more aromatic than just dried greens AND brighter in color.

[Angela]

Oven dried. I'll post it out on the street tomorrow. The smell in the house was crazy! Now I smelled like cherries, not grass and perfume. I think it worked out!

Angela, I'm sure it worked! Congratulations on your first tea! Very happy about you !

[Alla]

All night they were wrapped in fabrics, in the morning they began to transfer them to bags for freezing, and the fabric was hot (not warm). the first time this happened.

Alla, I had the same with fireweed today. I didn't have time to twist the leaves in a meat grinder in the evening, wrapped it in cloth and put it in the house. In the morning, both the fabric and the leaves were hot! But I still twisted it in a meat grinder and set it to ferment for a day. I'll dry it tomorrow morning.

Girls, who made grape tea?

Made only from wild (girlish) grapes. I don't remember who did it, but I seem to like the result. Try to do. I think that tea should come out better from cultivated grapes.

[Linga]

Linga, The only thing I can advise is an unfamiliar tree (plant, mushroom) better not to use. If there are no apples, then don't take the leaves!

[Oksana]

Snakehead photo

Oksana, like he. There are also lilac and white flowers.Tomorrow I'll go to my neighbor and check. Googled about him - very useful. And you don't need to ferment it. I just twisted it in a meat grinder - the flavor is crazy! And it is written that a simply dried snakehead retains its aroma very well. And last year I did not take the seeds (bastard)! This year I will definitely take it and sow it in the spring ...

[Linga]

Girls-nerds (in the good sense of the word))), tell me, please, is there a tree (or a large bush) similar to an apple tree, but some POISONOUS in the Moscow region? Don't laugh, I'm with plants on you, I'm afraid I'll make tea from the "poison" ... We just bought a plot on the edge of the forest, and there are several small bushes without fruits, and the leaves look like something edible (apple-pear),

Linga, I am the same teapot in scent. And in her forest she took something like a willow tree for an apple tree ... Well, the leaves are very similar. I agree with Oksana - you don't know - don't take it ...

[Larissa]

thank you very much! I never thought that I would be carried away by such an occupation ... I am so fascinated by your article that I collect, dry, freeze, ferment ... Home people help with pleasure. Moreover, I also infected my friends, and now there are conversations about who collects which leaf and what smell the tea gets. Thank you very much!

LarissaThanks for such a rave review of the recipes! And what attracted friends to this exciting and useful activity.
Welcome to Themes! Share your experience with us. It will be very interesting for us!

as a child, grandmother always said - you can't eat elderberries (we have a lot of them here) - you will get poisoned

Strange ... but you can not confuse the names of plants? Since elderberry is quite an edible berry, they make various jams from it, and jams, and wine. In our village, it grows everywhere, my husband does not leave the bush for the whole summer, he eats. Alive, healthy and well-fed.
Although, I googled about the elderberry and your grandmother is partly right. This is from Wikipedia:

Basic physiological properties of plant parts
Giftig

The plant is moderately toxic to mammals.

All parts of the plant are poisonous, except for the flowers, shell and pulp of ripe berries (but including the ripe seeds themselves); toxicity due to sambunigri glycoside content

[francevna]

Yesterday a neighbor brought a huge bunch of grape leaves

francevna, be sure to share the result, I also stare at the grapes, but since the meat grinder is not yet working, I will wait a little, otherwise I don’t want to use my hands somehow. Even in the freezer, a package of forest raspberries has been lying for more than a week, all hands will not reach: either cucumbers, then tomatoes, then peas, then something else.

[black elderberry]

Since elderberry is quite edible berry

Edible black elderberry, red is considered poisonous, we were also warned in childhood not to eat, since there have already been cases of poisoning

and I, due to the lack of ordinary grapes, stare at the girlish
but I doubt its edibility

[Mariii]

Mariii, Marina, Lyudmila, thank you very much for your answer on drying! Most likely the lids were not tightly closed, because they dried it to a crisp, yes + 2 days in a pillowcase on the loggia. With us, when it rains, even the carpet begins to bubble in the apartment, the humidity is wild.

Edible black elderberry, red is considered poisonous

A-a-a-a! Well, then it's clear. We have black everywhere. I didn't even see the red one.

We have black everywhere

Here is happiness. It makes such a delicious jam. I planted it, but it freezes badly, the fruits are poorly tied and for some reason the leaves turn yellow as soon as the young shoots grow up. While I go and think to try to make tea out of them or not, the yellowness is frightening.

[natushka]

While I walk, I think to try to make tea out of them or not

natushka, it is better to read about this plant in more detail, since I understood from the Internet that in black, only flowers and berries are not poisonous, but everything else (bark, leaves) is

Oksana, Lyudmila, I follow this principle (“if you don’t know - don’t take it”) and I have been walking around this plant for a month now ... and I am drawn to experiments! But I just wrinkle and smell it)))
Eh, probably, I really better not touch it.

Marina, Natushka, we have a red elderberry growing around us. And they somehow also make jam from it, BUT only for MEDICAL PURPOSES. (as a child I had neurodermatitis - to which doctors my mother took me - there was little use. And my grandmother took me to her herbalist grandfather, and he taught me how to make elderberry jam - then they treated me with this jam all winter - a tablespoon every morning before meals. By the way, it helped).
And the grandmother strictly forbade touching fresh berries.

[Alla]

Girls, who made grape tea?

Alla, I made from maiden grapes, look back pages 7-10. I didn't like the result. But it can be girlish. It's just that I have a ton of it - the whole house is braided with it to the top, like in Italy.

[Mariii]

Mariii, I will definitely write about grapes, I think that in a couple of days.

Linadoc, thanks for the answer.

berries-No Elderberry flowers, we have always dried cough-a good remedy. And it seems my great-grandmother used ripe berries as a dye for fabrics.

Lyudmila, can I share your master class in my LJ and in another forum?

[grape tea.]

I report on grape tea.

She promised to unsubscribe in two days, but my soul could not stand it, suddenly it’s delicious, the neighbor will again pick off the young growth and throw everything away.

Of all the tea I have made, this is the easiest option. I am writing as I did. I was going to dry the leaves without washing, but then I find out that two weeks ago a neighbor sprayed it with copper sulfate, there were no traces on the leaves, so I still washed it. I wrapped it in cloth for the night, and in the morning the cloth turned out to be hot, put everything in bags and in the freezer. They lay for a day, left the packages in the room (+ 28 degrees) at night, opened them in the morning, and a pleasant fruity aroma appeared. The leaves are pliable, do not break, I took the bunch in my hands and twisted it (as we wring out the laundry) until the juice appears. Then she cut it into rolls, unwrapped it and walked through it again with a knife. I put everything in a bowl and under oppression, it costs 2 hours. Part of the leaves was dried in a frying pan on gas until completely dry. After cooling down, I brewed tea, but now I tried the infused tea leaves for an hour.
Grape tea is a wonderful mono tea!The color is lemon-yellow, transparent, with a good sourness, there is sweetness, a very light bitterness is felt, a light tart taste remains on the tongue. Rating 5+ Of those teas that I did, grapes are now in first place.
I have grapes of three different varieties, whether it is a mixture or one of them, I don’t know, but what is very tasty is for sure. Yes, my head sweated for the first time after drinking tea (usually this happens to me with green tea).

[Julia]

can I share your master class in my LJ and in another forum?

Julia, sure you may ! And even necessary! The more people learn about tea, the better. Just don't forget about the links to the source ...

[Alla]

Reporting on grape tea.

Alla, thanks for the wonderful report! I read and vividly imagined this process! I also remembered my vineyard left in Alma-Ata. There I had 2 grape varieties. Eh (deep sigh of regret) !!!! It's a pity that we don't have grapes here. It is necessary to plant with a special, because I don't want to make a girlish one.

Grape tea is a wonderful mono tea!

Well, that's it! I went to vomit. Thank you, Alla.

[Ludmila]

I also remembered my vineyard left in Alma-Ata. There I had 2 grape varieties.

In Alma-Ata we lived on the 1st Five-Year Plan, in September 1971 (the wedding was) we were picking grapes in huge basins, sooo delicious. It is a pity that I did not know about tea then.
Ludmila, where did you live?

[Mariii]

Mariii, Marina, good work. I look forward to your impressions of tea.

[Alla]

In Alma-Ata we lived on the 1st Five-Year Plan

Alla, yes, we are fellow countrywomen! So glad! I know the First Five-Year Plan. And I lived in several places. As a child in Tashkent, then in the 4th microdistrict. And when she got married, they bought a house in Tastak.

It is a pity that I did not know about tea then.

Nothing, we'll catch up now!

We have always dried elderberries for coughs

I wrote nonsense, I hope no one sang to use it. We FLOWERS have always dried cough
It may not be too late to fix it.
FUH corrected.

[Oksana]

Oksana, if I wanted to use the advice, I still could not ... I have several bushes of red elderberry. For the third year already I have been observing such a picture - beautiful berries hang for themselves ... And then suddenly, in some 15 minutes they disappear. This year, I just noticed that a cloud of blackbirds swooped in and were destroyed in a moment ...
In general, my neighbor warned me that the red elderberry should not be torn - it is poisonous. But black - please. But we don't have black.

Now my grape skeletons will stand in the garden, half of the leaves will go to dolma, and the second for tea
Frantsevna, thanks for the experience!

[GenyaF]

GenyaF, Zhenyaand why skeletons? We are harvesting new shoots, they are not needed, I even dried tiny shoots with small tendrils.

Enjoy your tea and tea drinking!

[grapes]

Sheet grapes dried only in Isidri at +65. at the end at the lowest temperature. The result is real green leaf tea. I will wait for a new batch of grapes from a neighbor.

Allochka, I’m with all the zeal I come up to business and figs will stop me

I don't have time to read the whole topic. There are black currant leaves in the freezer. I got it out, lay down a little, warmed up, roll it up, but they roll out and look, as soon as torn off, dry. I suspect fermentation won't work with it.
I put it back.
What to do?

While still in the freezer, hold it in a thin layer and spread out to freeze

What to do?

And also fold the leaves after defrosting with a slide and roll them properly with a rolling pin. And in general, these leaves are very "complex". I can recommend adding dried apple, pear or fireweed leaves to them. And then scroll through the meat grinder. In combination with the listed leaves, they will granulate well.

Today I twisted an apple tree + blackberry + plum + pear in a meat grinder. So, there is absolutely no waste inside. I remember how much I raked out of the hand. This is me for those who still doubt whether an electric meat grinder is needed.