Now Is the Best Time to Harvest Your Chamomile and Turn It Into Tea—How to Do It Right

Chamomile is an easy-to-grow plant that produces daisy-like flowers, which can be used fresh or harvested and dried for brewing tea. Both types of chamomile, German and Roman, are harvested using the same methods before turning them into tea.

Below, we walk you through harvesting chamomile, how to know it's ready, and what to do after you harvest so your precious flowers can become tasty tea.

When Is Chamomile Ready to Harvest?

For the best quality, individual chamomile flowers should be harvested when they are near full bloom (with bright yellow centers) before they turn brown and go to seed.

Chamomile produces profuse, showy, aromatic white flowers with yellow centers from summer to fall. The long blooming season offers plenty of opportunities to harvest the flowers.

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What Part of Chamomile Do You Harvest?

The prized part of the chamomile plant for tea is the blossoms with their strong, apple-like fragrance. The foliage of chamomile is aromatic but bitter-tasting and should not be harvested or dried.

Harvesting the mature blooms encourages another flush of flowers for a second harvest during the season. Near the end of the growing season, leave some flowers on German Chamomile and allow the heads to go to seed.

You can collect the seed once it is brown to save for sowing in containers or the garden in early spring or allow the plant to self-seed and possibly return to the garden the next year.

How to Harvest Chamomile

1. Gather your supplies. You will need a pair of clean, sharp garden shears and a basket or small bucket to collect the flower heads.

2. Snip the flowers from the stem. Use the garden shears to snip just the flower head without any stem. Place the flowers into the basket.

Harvesting Tip

Use both hands to make harvesting a bit easier—one hand can gently rake the flower heads over so you can snip close to the head with the shears.

How to Dry and Store Chamomile

• Remove stems. Use your fingers or kitchen shears to remove any stems still attached to the chamomile blooms.

• Rinse the flowers. Place the flowers in a colander and rinse with water to remove any tiny insects, dust, or dirt clinging to the blooms.

• Spread to air-dry. Arrange the flowers in a single layer on a mesh screen (old window screen or splatter cover) to dry. Place it in an area that is warm and well-ventilated but away from direct sunlight. Indoors is usually best to prevent damage from insects or excessive outdoor humidity. The time to thoroughly air-dry the flowers depends on humidity, temperature, and the number of flowers. Most flowers will be dry and ready for storage in around two weeks.

• Use a food dehydrator. Preheat the dehydrator to around 100 degrees F. Place the flowers in a single layer on the trays. Drying can take from one to four hours. Check the flowers every 30 minutes to prevent overheating.

• Dry in the oven. For gas ovens, the heat from the pilot light is sufficient for drying. In an electric oven, use the lowest possible temperature setting. Place the blooms in a single layer on a tray and check their progress every 30 minutes.

• Use the microwave. Place the flowers on a paper towel in a single layer and cover with another paper towel. Set the microwave in 30-second increments and check on the level of dryness each time until the flowers are dry.

• Store the dried flowers. Use a sealed, airtight container and keep it in a cool, dark spot. Label the container with the contents and date. The chamomile flowers will offer the most flavor for tea if used within one year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will chamomile grow back after harvesting?

If the flower heads are harvested early in the summer blooming season, the plant will produce a second growth of flowers before the end of the growing season. Flower heads that are allowed to turn brown and go to seed can be collected for sowing next year or allowed to self-seed in some growing zones.

What part of chamomile is used to make tea?

Only the flower heads of chamomile are used to make tea. It takes one to two teaspoons of dried flower heads to make a cup of chamomile tea.

Read the original article on The Spruce.