Is it possible to dry fireweed in the usual way. When to collect Ivan tea for drying at home. When and how to collect fireweed

The taste of Ivan tea cannot be confused with others - a fragrant drink will invigorate and tone the body, refresh and add vitality. In the heat, many of us drink overseas, and meanwhile, our own, native quenches our thirst no worse. The main thing is to prepare it correctly. About when to collect and how to dry, ferment Ivan-chai herb correctly, will be discussed in today's article.

For everyone who leads a healthy lifestyle - the drink is literally a godsend! The fact that its composition is significantly different from other teas containing caffeine. Ivan tea, he is fireweed or Koporye tea known in Russia for more than one century. The secret of its brewing among the people was considered a family recipe and was passed down from generation to generation.

Do you know how in Russia they learned to brew Ivan tea, and where did the plant get such unusual name? One of the legends tells that one boy lived in the village. He liked to wear a red shirt, but most of all he liked to collect healing herbs. People, noticing a red shirt among the forbs of the field, said: "Ivan, tea, it's coming."

Once, when people were making a fire, they brought high fireweed along with firewood, and leaves of willow-tea accidentally fell into a boiling pot. The drink came out so fragrant, and in addition, invigorating, that since then it has become customary in Russia to collect and brew Ivan tea. By the way, young fireweed leaves were not only used for tea, they were put in salad, soup, prepared instead of cabbage, dried for the winter and even made flour.

They also knew about Ivan tea in Europe, but mainly as a competitor in the Indian tea trade. I talked about it in detail in my other article. medicinal properties ah Ivan tea. Here I will briefly list all its advantages.

How to collect and dry Ivan tea

In order not only to enjoy the aroma of delicious tea, but also to collect all its useful properties, it is important to know when to collect Ivan tea and how to dry it properly.

• The ideal time for harvesting Ivan tea is a dry sunny day, immediately after the morning dew dries. Do not collect grass immediately after rain or fog. A too hot day for collection is also not suitable, the leaves collected in the heat quickly deteriorate - they burn out.
• Cull out diseased, too dusty and damaged plants.
• Tea, decoctions and other remedies are prepared from the aerial part of the fireweed, best of all from the leaves - they give the aroma and amber color to the drink. Flowers are a good honey plant, they are also harvested for harvesting, but only in addition to raw materials, they do not play a big role as a drink.
• Pluck the plant by breaking it in the middle, or 10 cm from the ground - this is what herbalists advise. Then, already at home, it will be easier to collect leaves and flowers from the stem separately. By the way, it is desirable to dry the flowers, too, not together with the leaves.
• There is another way to assemble directly in the field. Holding the top of the head, hold the stem of the plant with your palm and slide it down, the leaves will remain in your hand, and the fireweed itself will remain intact and continue to bloom.
• One of the conditions for obtaining high-quality raw materials for drinks and medicinal products is the collection of Ivan-tea away from industrial enterprises and busy roads.

When to pick Ivan tea

Fortunately, fireweed has a long flowering period that starts at the end of June and continues throughout the summer season, until the very end of September, while warm weather continues. The herb collected at the moment when the flower brush has not yet fully blossomed has useful and healing properties.

Connoisseurs say: the tops of young shoots collected in May are ideal for making tea. The drink made from them is of excellent quality, able to restore lost strength and replenish energy reserves. But for large-scale harvesting for the winter, this time is not suitable, because the plants are too small.

Note! At the end of summer, in August, on fireweed, its lower leaves, beans begin to ripen, having fluff inside. In no case should it fall into the collection of the workpiece.

How to dry Ivan-tea

Finding real Koporye tea is not easy these days, but at home you can prepare a plant so that the drink from it is no worse than it was in the old days. In order for a drink from Ivan plants to turn out tasty, fragrant and truly healing, it is necessary to properly process the plant.

Start drying the grass immediately after collecting the fireweed. How to dry a plant?

Drying takes place in several stages:

• Processing of raw materials.
• Withering or pre-drying.
• Leaf twist.
• Fermentation.
• Final drying.

There are several options for full-fledged drying of leaves, all of them are correct, and will lead to high-quality harvesting. Choose the one that suits you and get started.

So, you brought home the collected plants. Now cut off the long leaves and flowers. How to dry flowers, I will tell below, now we will move on to drying fireweed leaves.

• Wash the leaves under running water and let the liquid drain completely.

Preparation of Ivan tea leaves

• Lay out the leaves on paper (newspaper with printing ink is not good).
• Lay out the raw materials on the surface of the paper with a layer of 3 - 5 cm, no more.
• Leave the leaves covered with a cloth in a dark place for exactly one day. From time to time during the day, stir up the raw materials, turn the leaves over - they should not dry out, but rather become soft - wither. Do not put raw materials in the sun, do not choose a humid place - the first drying should take place in a dry and warm (but not hot) place.

The second stage of drying is twisting, an important and most time-consuming process. Usually, at this stage, all family members are involved, since it is better for men to twist the leaves correctly and quickly - this has always been considered.

Twisting is done as follows: twist the dried leaf in your palms so that the juice stands out. At the same time, the leaf should darken and you will get something like a “sausage”.

How to ferment Ivan tea at home

After twisting, you will have an equally important, third stage of drying Ivan tea - fermentation. And how to carry out the process, read on. Fermentation is the fermentation of a product, during which its composition changes. Our ancestors without any laboratory research knew about this fact.

For example, sauerkraut is fermentation. During fermentation, lactic acid is formed, which, firstly, becomes a natural preservative, and secondly, it is very beneficial for health. It is after fermentation that our leaves will show a unique honey aroma. The taste, smell and even the color of the tea leaves depend on the time of fermentation and temperature, it comes out yellow, green or even dark.

1. To carry out the process, take the twisted leaves, put them in a shallow container and cover with a damp cloth (you must moisten). Some herbalists put them in jars.
2. The container for raw materials is left in a warm room, at a temperature of at least 25 ° C. Usually, fermentation lasts about 10 - 48 hours, or even more.

How to understand that it is time to move on to the final drying, and fermentation is completed:

• The smell of the leaves will change - it will become fragrant and honey-floral. Connoisseurs of Kopor tea sometimes go further - they leave the leaves to ferment for a few more hours, but somewhere in the basement, in a cooler place. It is believed that this will give our Ivan tea more intense notes.

A quick way to dry Ivan tea with a meat grinder

Rolling leaves for drying Ivan tea is a laborious process and takes a lot of time. There is a faster way to prepare raw materials for fermentation - grind it through a meat grinder.

The disadvantage of the option is that the taste and useful qualities of the drink are slightly reduced.

• After drying, scroll the raw materials through a meat grinder with large holes, or completely remove the nozzles. Next, proceed to fermentation by putting the mass in a container and covering with a damp cloth. Further drying process in the oven, read below.

The old way of harvesting Koporye tea

Our ancestors did not have a meat grinder, nor did they always spend time twisting, they had their own method of preparing leaves for fermentation. You can use it too - the quality of the workpiece will not suffer.

• Take a linen towel (or from another natural fabric), moisten it well with water and spread slightly dried leaves on it with a layer of 3 centimeters.
• Then roll the towel into a roll, very tightly. Also tightly tie it with a rope and grind the workpiece with your hands for half an hour so that the juice stands out (press, bend - unbend the roll from a towel, sometimes sprinkle it with water).
• Then leave directly in the towel for primary fermentation for 2-3 hours.
• Remember to spray periodically with water and control the temperature. If to the touch the towel has become about the temperature of your body or higher (from 37 ° C), and when pressed, a characteristic crunch is heard, then remove the mass from the towel.
• Then transfer it to any container and, having covered, continue fermentation.

How to dry in the oven

And finally, we move on to the last stage of drying.

1. At the end of fermentation, cut the raw material with a knife or scissors into smaller pieces (but not too much, focus on the familiar black tea brewing).
2. Spread the workpiece on the lined parchment paper baking sheet with a layer of 1 cm and send to the oven.
3. You don’t need to do a high temperature, as with, for example, 50 - 60 degrees is enough. Remember to keep the door oven open for good air circulation.
4. How much to dry? Complete drying usually takes 2 hours, and depends on the moisture content of the collected grass. During the last drying, turn the workpiece often so that the process runs evenly, at the same time check its readiness. Don't let the tea darken.
5. Leave the finished tea leaves for some time at room conditions so that it cools down, and then pack it.

• To create the effect of drying in a Russian oven in the oven, put red brick or ceramic tiles in it.
• At the end of the process, briefly increase the temperature to ignite the tea leaves. Oh, you can also find out from my other article by clicking on the link.

How to dry Ivan-tea flowers

Experienced herbalists advise to dry Ivan Chai flowers separately, primarily because their harvesting does not require a fermentation process. Spread them on a flat surface separately from the leaves, preferably in a shady room, without direct sunlight.

Flowers are also stored separately, in a glass container under a ground lid.

Workpiece storage

Store properly dried Ivan tea in a glass container, tightly closing it. Shelf life, with the preservation of all useful and medicinal properties - 3 years.

How to brew Ivan tea

Proper brewing and the culture of drinking a drink for health is a topic for a separate discussion. I must say right away that you do not need to store the drink for a long time, it is advisable to drink it within 12 hours.

• Rinse the teapot with boiling water.
• Put 2 tablespoons of tea into it for half a liter of water.
• Fill the tea leaves with boiled water.
• Cover with a lid and let stand for 10-15 minutes.

All! Delicious, fragrant tea is ready! This brew can be used a couple more times.

Useful properties of the famous Koporye tea

In order to understand why Ivan - tea was very popular in Russia, you need to get to know him. It was not in vain that traditional healers said that the herb has magical powers and literally raises the sick to their feet.

It turns out that after drinking a fireweed drink after sunset, you will give your body a signal that it is time to calm down, reduce pressure, and adjust your heartbeat to a normal rhythm. You may know that during sleep, the human body conducts a self-diagnosis of all organs and, if possible, restores its work. A drink from the herb Ivan-chai, drunk in the evening, contributes to general healing during a night's sleep, which increases the active period of each person's life.

If possible, be sure to collect and dry Ivan tea, with its help you will be able to help the body:

1. Regular consumption of Koporye tea will help with various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: ulcerative formations in the stomach and duodenum, gastritis, colitis, diseases of the biliary system, pancreatitis.
2. Properly collected and brewed tea promotes hematopoiesis - treats anemia, improves blood composition.
3. For men, the drink will help to cope with prostatitis or adenoma, cure infertility.
4. Fireweed will also serve the health of women - as with male infertility, it will help to become a mother.
5. Ivan tea has another wonderful useful property - it normalizes high blood pressure, regardless of the cause of its occurrence. No less useful properties are mate tea, which I wrote about and you can find out
6. The drink will also help with a disease of the bladder - it will relieve inflammation and pain, clean the kidneys from fine sand.
7. Having brewed a healing tea, you will greatly help yourself with a cold: clear the bronchi and lungs, since the drink contributes to the soft separation of sputum, the cough will pass. Ivan tea is indispensable for sinusitis, tracheitis, pharyngitis, tuberculosis - it serves as an anti-inflammatory, antipyretic agent.
8. Thanks to the fireweed herb drink, the entire endocrine system begins to work smoothly and efficiently.
9. Recent scientific studies of the herb Ivan Chai have shown that it has some anti-cancer healing effects.
10. Prevents the appearance of herpes and treats it by strengthening the immune system.
11. For women, decoctions of fireweed will help prolong the youthfulness of the skin, slowing down its aging, making it firm and elastic.
12. In addition, fireweed helps with various pathologies of the spleen, is active in dermatological problems and metabolic and inflammatory skin diseases.

Preparation of tea, from collection to the end of drying, is a very time-consuming process. But how nice it is to sit with the family, or with friends over a cup of fragrant, tasty, and extremely healthy tea who were loved and respected by our ancestors! I suggest you watch a useful video on how to collect and dry Ivan tea. Be healthy, friends. With love… Galina Nekrasova.

Due to the popularity of the ethno style, an authentic Russian drink, Koporye tea, was rediscovered. It is prepared from fireweed, aka narrow-leaved Ivan tea, which grows throughout Russia. A whole treatise can be compiled about the beneficial qualities of Koporye tea. Suffice it to say that it contains 6 times more ascorbic acid than lemon, it does not cause darkening of tooth enamel, unlike tea or coffee, and tea leaves retain their taste and healing properties for several days.

Knowing how to collect and dry Ivan tea, you can provide yourself and loved ones with a delicious healing elixir for the whole year. The secret of Koporye tea is in a special technology for harvesting raw materials, which are the leaves of the plant. Their usual drying does not give that unique herbal-honey taste, in order to acquire it, the raw materials must go through the fermentation stage.

Where does Ivan Chai grow?

A tall (up to 2 m) plant with a densely leafy stem and purple inflorescences collected in a brush can be found on sandy soils in forests or near them. Thickets of fireweed can often be found near railway embankments. For harvesting for tea, such raw materials are not recommended, since the leaves collect a lot of dirt. In recent years, entire plantations of fireweed have appeared in Russia, where the plant is grown for industrial harvesting.

When to collect Ivan tea?

The best time to collect raw materials is the last week before flowering. At this time, the leaves are characterized by the highest content of juice, are perfectly fermented and give a good shrinkage. Plants in the initial stage of flowering are also suitable for collection. Plants on which seed pods have already formed instead of flowers are not suitable for harvesting, because. most of the useful substances contained in the leaves have already been given to the seeds. The time when Ivan tea blooms varies depending on the latitude. In the southern regions, purple inflorescences appear already in the first decade of June.

During the collection process, the primary calibration of raw materials is performed. When Ivan tea is collected for drying, only leaves with an integral cover are torn off, without signs of disease and not pierced by pests. It is most convenient not to tear off the leaves one at a time, but to remove them all from the stem from top to bottom, grabbing it with the palm of your hand.

Ivan-tea inflorescences are collected and harvested separately. Dried flowers are added to tea to improve its taste characteristics, because. they contain fragrant nectar in large quantities.

Raw materials are harvested in dry weather. A rainy or cloudy day is a bad time for picking willow tea, the leaves are saturated with moisture and poorly fermented.

Is it possible to collect Ivan tea in spring?

Many novice herbalists are interested in the question: is it possible to collect Ivan tea before flowering? Practice shows that the "spring" leaves are fermented, but the taste of the tea is much inferior to the traditional Koporye. Therefore, the beginning of the flowering period is the best time to start collecting Ivan tea. The timing is limited to the beginning of the formation of fluff in the seed pods. When it appears, the leaves from such a plant are already considered unsuitable for harvesting.

After collection, a secondary calibration of the raw material is carried out (too dirty or damaged sheets are discarded).

Why ferment raw materials?

A particularly important stage in the preparation of Ivan tea is fermentation, or fermentation. During the process, the raw material changes color from green to light brown. Fermentation means changing chemical composition product due to oxidative processes triggered by the plant's own enzymes. The catalyst in this case is the heat of the sun's rays. To start the fermentation process, it is necessary to destroy the cell membranes of the plant and ensure the release of enzymes from the cells.

How does fermentation take place?

The process consists of several steps:

• drying;
• crushing;
• direct fermentation.

Fermentation of Ivan tea at home takes no more than a day. A freshly picked leaf does not ferment well, so it is preliminarily dried. For this, the raw materials are placed in glass jars or tightly tied plastic bags and left for several hours in a warm, well-lit room (but not in direct sunlight). The dried leaf acquires a light brown tint. To speed up the process, packages with raw materials must be periodically turned over. Then it is necessary to destroy the intercellular partitions in the sheets and release the enzymes. This is done very simply - dried raw materials are poured into a non-metallic container (best of all, a large plastic basin) and intensively kneaded with hands. In the process of kneading, the first sign of fermentation will appear - a pleasant fruity aroma. Raw materials must be kneaded before the leaves are converted into a grassy wet mass and the juice is released.

This step can be greatly simplified if you do not knead the herbal mass with your hands, but scroll Ivan tea through a meat grinder. However, craftsmen who specialize in homemade fireweed say that the most delicious tea is obtained precisely when raw materials are crushed by hand.

Next, the green mass is placed in an enameled container and covered with a lid, on which a small oppression is placed. It is not recommended to create too much pressure - in this case, the fermentation of the lower leaves will be completed much earlier than the upper ones and the raw material will turn sour. How long to ferment Ivan tea? The answer to this question depends on the expected result. Tea of ​​a high degree of fermentation differs significantly in taste and aroma from low-fermented tea.

How to dry Ivan tea?

The final stage of harvesting the fireweed is drying the fermented leaves. It is best to dry Ivan tea at home in a separate darkened, well-ventilated room, but in the absence of such, an attic is also suitable. For drying, Ivan tea grass is laid immediately after crushing, until the green mass has had time to dry. Raw materials are laid out in a thin layer on paper-lined pallets or special racks. With natural drying (without raising the temperature), it retains all useful material.

Industrial preparation of Ivan tea

When harvesting fireweed in industrial scale wilting happens a little differently. The collected sheets are laid out on large polyethylene mats, the edges of which are wrapped. The raw material is in a kind of cocoon in the open air, under direct sunlight.

Kneading dried sheets with large volumes of the workpiece is not carried out manually, but with the help of special rollers. If you prepare fireweed on such devices, the leaves will get twisting characteristic of tea leaves. The better twisted tea leaf, the richer it will be ready drink. Inside the roller, the raw material undergoes important processing steps:

• mixing;
• air saturation;
• juice extraction.

The duration of processing of raw materials in a roller depends on many criteria, including atmospheric humidity and the degree of drying, and ranges from 20-40 minutes.

The mass unloaded from the roller drums moves to a large sieve, where all lumps are kneaded manually. Then the green mass, in which characteristic tubes have already formed, is crushed with knives.

The fermented raw materials are laid out on mesh pallets and loaded into special drying cabinets. The product spends 2-2.5 hours in them. After drying, the raw material acquires a dark shade traditional for tea. To improve the presentation, the dried product is sifted through a sieve.

The aroma of prepared Ivan tea is fully revealed after 2 weeks. By this time, the product is ready for blending and packaging.

Undoubtedly, a very valuable plant that helps to get rid of various diseases and prevent their occurrence.

You can buy ready-made Koporye tea or make it yourself, but in the second case, you will be completely sure that you are drinking healthy Ivan tea.

Let's look at the process of harvesting a plant to produce Ivan-tea, from which you can make healthy drinks for many years.

In the preparation of Ivan tea, the following stages are distinguished:

• collection. Ivan tea should be collected during flowering. Most often, only leaves are collected, removing them from flowering plants in the middle part, however, the whole plant can also be harvested (in this case, the flowers are not fermented and dried separately from the leaves). It is best to collect Ivan tea far from the roads. The collected leaves can be washed with clean water to get rid of dust.
• Withering. At this stage, the leaves become softer, but retain the juices inside. Plant materials are laid out on paper or cloth with a layer of up to 5 cm and left for several hours (depending on the place of wilting and other conditions from 2 to 24 hours), stirring occasionally so that the top layer of leaves does not dry out.
• Twisting. You can use the manual method, rubbing the fireweed in your palms and folding the leaves into “sausages”, or use the mechanical method and pass willow tea through a meat grinder. An alternative to a meat grinder when processing a large volume of leaves can be a special rotary machine. The purpose of the stage is to obtain leaves darkened from the juice, suitable for fermentation.
• Fermentation. The raw material is placed in an enameled container and covered with a wet cloth or lid. Fermentation begins inside, as a result of which the herbal aroma of the plant is replaced by the smell of fruits or flowers. It is important not to overexpose Ivan tea so that the plant does not sour. As soon as the smell has changed, proceed to the next step.
• Drying. The leaves are cut and laid out on a baking sheet with a layer up to 1.5 centimeters. Next, the raw materials are sent to the oven for one hour, setting the temperature to 80 degrees. The lower the temperature, the greater the amount of useful substances will remain in the fireweed. It is also advised to dry Ivan tea in special dryers and Russian ovens. The best method is to dry it indoors, where willow-tea will not be exposed to direct sunlight.
• Storage . Dried and cooled tea is placed in a glass or ceramic dish, which is hermetically sealed. Before use, it is advised to let the prepared tea stand for one month.

For the winter

Starting the harvesting of willow tea in June, during the summer period you can get as much dried raw material as you need in the winter.

Many people like to add other fermented medicinal plants (such as mint or currant leaves) as well as berries to dried willow tea. Such mixtures have a great healing effect and support immunity in the winter cold.

How to collect and dry Ivan tea at home, as well as the methods of fermentation and use of fireweed, we will describe in our article. Tea prepared in accordance with all the rules given in the article turns out to be fragrant and pleasant in taste.

What is Ivan tea

Ivan tea has many other names:

• Ivanova grass;
• Koporye tea;
• Fireweed narrow-leaved.

This species grows mainly in the regions of central Russia. Ivan-tea grows in open areas. You can often meet him in abandoned fields, wastelands and forest clearings. Even our ancestors used fireweed in medicinal purposes. The plant has a strong stem up to 1.5 meters high and narrow leaves. In the summer months, Ivanova grass blooms with pink and crimson flowers.

Ivan tea has antipyretic properties as well as barberry, rosea rhodiola, meadowsweet, blackberry, viburnum, heather, dogwood, blackthorn.

When to Collect

Before preparing Ivan tea, you should carefully study the features of the collection of the plant and its drying process. The flowering period of fireweed in the northern regions begins in mid-July, and in the southern regions - from the end of June to the first half of July.

The collection of raw materials should begin during the flowering period, when the entire flower brush blooms, but before the ripening beans with fluff interfere.

How to collect and dry Ivan tea

Ivan-tea roots, which are also used for harvesting raw materials, should be dug up in the fall.

It is very important to learn to distinguish Ivan-chai from other varieties of the same family that should not be eaten. Forest and shaggy fireweed do not have healing properties. Their flowers have a more purple hue, and the height is no more than 15 cm.

What is the fermentation process and why is it done?

When preparing Koporye tea, the fermentation process is one of the most important. From a scientific point of view, fermentation occurs due to the fact that the plant secretes juice, which reacts with oxygen, after which fermentation and oxidation occur. Then the greens of the plant should be dried. Such processing will help preserve the beneficial properties of tea and add a fruity aroma to it. Simply dried leaves will not have the same taste and benefits as fermented tea, which has a rich aroma and retains all the important components and substances.

How to dry Ivan tea at home

After the routine stage of collecting plants, you can proceed further. Harvesting fireweed for the winter is not an easy task, but quite doable. There are many different instructions for how much to dry Ivan tea, so it is very difficult to make a mistake. You can use an oven or electric dryer to make tea, but be very careful. Next, all the main stages of preparing this tea will be described.

Watch the video! Secrets of preparation and fermentation of Ivan-tea

Drying preparation

For harvesting, you can use all parts of the plant:

• leaves;
• stems;
• top;
• roots;
• shoots.

leaf wilting

To remove excess liquid from the leaves, they are withered. Plants do not need to be washed before harvesting. The leaves are placed on the fabric with a layer no more than a few centimeters thick and left for 12 hours.

Leaves should be stirred occasionally. In doing so, you must comply optimum temperature air about 26 degrees, with a humidity of 70%.

Advice! If the temperature is higher, the leaves will wither much faster.

It is best to carry out this procedure in a dark room, in rare cases - in the open air. On the street, felting is carried out only in the shade; greenery should not be allowed to be in those areas where sunlight enters in order to avoid complete drying of the plant.

To find out if the leaves have wilted enough, you need to squeeze a few leaves in your fist. If they are not ready, they will disintegrate, and if they are ready, they will remain in a compressed form.

After this procedure, the leaves should be twisted.

Twisting

It is necessary to take ten leaves of the plant, put them together and twist between the palms into a sausage. This must be done with effort, until they begin to secrete juice and they become darker.

Next, the leaves are crushed. You can carry out this procedure with a meat grinder or a knife. The most common way to make Koporye tea is to grind greens through a meat grinder. To do this, take a grid with large holes. While scrolling, the meat grinder should be periodically left to cool for a couple of minutes.

Fermentation

Harvesting willow-tea is in no way complete without fermentation, this is a mandatory procedure that greatly affects the taste of the drink.

Ivan tea fermentation techniques

• Under the yoke of the usual. The plant is cut into small pieces, kneaded by hand in a container with a non-metallic coating and covered with a cloth. Top cover the mass with a plate or a wooden circle of the required diameter. And they put a load: a stone, a weight or a container of water. The mass should be left for a couple of days. The main thing is not to overexpose the tea, otherwise it will look like sauerkraut.
• Under load in its own juice. Completely cut plants are divided into 2 parts. Juice is squeezed out of one with the help of a press juicer, quite a bit of it is enough. And the second part is loaded into a ceramic-metal container and poured with prepared juice. A weight of at least 20 kg is placed on top and Ivan tea is kept in this way for about 3 days. Then the mass is dried.
• With the help of a meat grinder. Dried or fresh raw materials are crushed with a meat grinder using a nozzle with large holes or without it at all. The resulting mass is laid out in a container and covered with a damp cloth. The fermentation process should be continued for ¼-½ days.
• The old method for a large number Ivan tea. Raw materials are laid out on a wet linen fabric with a layer of 3 cm. After that, the canvas is rolled up. In the process of twisting, the fabric should be constantly moistened with water so that it does not absorb the escaping juice. Next, the roll is pulled with a rubber band or rope and for 30 minutes I bend, unbend and pull it so that the grass mass is rubbed. The tube is left to be stored under normal conditions for 2-3 hours. At this time, you should check whether the canvas is heating up, when the fingers feel warm, the roll can be unrolled. The mass will emit the smell of sour pear compote. It should be transferred to a jar or bucket and left to reach for 36-40 hours.

Advice! Those who appreciate the special taste of willow-tea should store the fermented raw materials in the basement, this will add flavor and aroma to the tea.

Watch the video! IVAN-CHAI (fermentation)

Drying without fermentation

Ivan tea can be dried without fermentation, in the same way as ordinary medicinal herbs. A plant dried in this way also retains its beneficial properties. However, teamakers continue to claim that Ivan tea gets its unique taste precisely when the fermentation process takes place. This is a real Russian drink that competed with Indian tea leaves, but was undeservedly forgotten.

Dried fireweed can be an integral component of the medicinal collection, for this you should dry the plant using the usual method:

1. Ivan tea can be hung down with inflorescences in a dry room where air circulates well, you should leave a distance between the bunches so that they are freely blown by air. And you can also put it on a baking sheet in a loose layer, covering it with parchment so that air comes from below.
2. Using an electric dryer, you can significantly reduce the drying time of plants from 4 days to 4 hours. The temperature and ventilation are set following the instructions in the instructions. The most important thing is to prevent the smell of dry paper, which indicates overdrying.

At the same time, fireweed prepared in this way cannot be called a full-fledged tea brew.

Types of drying

Drying of raw materials is the last part of processing. There are several main ways to carry out this procedure.

At what temperature to dry in the oven?

After the fermentation procedure, willow-tea leaves are laid out on a baking sheet, which is pre-covered with baking paper and sent to an oven heated to 60 degrees. It is no longer worth making the temperature, because this way you can save a sufficient amount of trace elements and vitamins.

Important! It is impossible to completely close the oven, because good traction is necessary.

You can check the readiness of the tea leaves by touch - the leaves should not stick and look like dust, they should just break. This procedure takes about an hour. The whole process must be carefully controlled, since the raw materials can dry out, and this will significantly worsen the taste of the future drink.

When the tea leaves are ready, the oven can be turned off and the door left slightly open so that the raw material can cool. Appearance this tea will be very reminiscent of the usual black tea leaves.

In the Russian stove

Drying willow-tea in an oven is advised by many experts who study this plant, since a living fire will give all its energy to tea, which will make it even more useful.

Drying is carried out in an oven, which was heated in advance and stood for at least an hour. The fermented raw materials are laid out on a baking sheet, put on the coals and the tea is dried. During the cooking process, you should constantly turn the raw material so that it evenly acquires a dark shade.

Such stoves have been preserved in the Russian outbacks and are often used to make Ivan tea leaves.

In an electric dryer

You can also dry the grass in an electric dryer at a temperature of +60 degrees, so that the plant does not overheat and lose its useful qualities. The duration of drying depends on the general condition of the raw materials, on average, at this temperature, the procedure lasts about 5-6 hours. You should always check if the tea has dried.

Important! Stock dried at too high a temperature, or over-dried, will have an unpleasant paper taste.

Drying indoors and can dry in the sun

Important! Ivan-tea, as well as other medicinal herbs, should not be dried in the sun.

To dry the plant without a stove and oven, it is necessary to spread the raw materials on a baking sheet and leave it in a dry, well-ventilated area, away from direct sunlight. It is necessary to constantly turn the mass so that the tea leaves dry evenly. The duration of this procedure is about a week. And this is the best method that allows you to save all the useful substances in the composition of Ivan tea.

How to store

You can store dried tea leaves for a couple of years and even more, subject to certain conditions. Dried raw materials should be in a hermetically sealed container, preferably glass. Dry leaves should lie down for about a month before the tea is brewed. The longer the tea leaves are stored, the more aromatic the tea becomes.

How to brew Ivan tea

Fireweed is properly brewed in the proportion:

• 3 teaspoons of tea;
• for 150 ml of boiling water;
• it should be left to brew for a couple of minutes, after which another 300 ml of hot water is added to the kettle.

The volume of water may vary depending on the desired strength of the drink. Again, the same tea leaves can be poured with boiling water a maximum of 5 more times.

Ivan tea can be prepared without the use of boiling water. For this:

• 1 liter of water;
• it is necessary to pour 1 large spoonful of raw materials;
• leave overnight.

Fragrant in the morning healthy drink he'll be ready. Fermented tea leaves can be mixed with dried flowers in the usual way.

Watch the video! The whole process of harvesting from A to Z at home

Recently, more and more people are returning to the roots and primordially Russian traditions are becoming more and more popular. For example, cook homemade bread kvass or drink fragrant Russian tea from Ivan Chai. About that, we wrote earlier, now let's talk about how to collect, dry and brew Ivan-tea so that it is not only tasty, but also healthy.

What does Ivan-chai look like and where does it grow?

Fireweed or Ivan tea is a perennial herbaceous plant, reaching a height of 50-200 cm. Easily recognizable narrow leaves and pink flowers are familiar to many. Lush red-pink glades of Ivan-chai can be found almost everywhere: on dry sandy places in light forests, often on clearings and edges, along railway embankments and ditches, near crops, near water, on damp soil. The plant blooms from June to September.

Interesting facts about Ivan Chai:
Tea in Russia has been drunk for a long time, only it was prepared from the local herb Ivan-tea or fireweed. Such herbal tea, distinguished by a delicate aroma and pleasant taste, was supplied to the imperial table and even exported abroad. A few more names - Koporye tea, Mother of God herb, boron potion, skrypnik.

Useful properties of Ivan tea

Fireweed was valued in Russia not only for the taste of the drink from it, but also for the benefits that Ivan tea brings. A balanced combination of vitamins and microelements has a beneficial effect on the body. Beneficial features Ivan tea has been known for a long time, many of them are confirmed by modern medicine.

• Infusions and decoctions of Ivan tea leaves have strong anti-inflammatory properties. Fireweed has the highest coefficient of anti-inflammatory action among the studied plants of the domestic flora.
• The enveloping properties of Ivan-tea are also noted. Therefore, folk herbalists and modern herbalists use Ivan tea in the treatment of peptic ulcer and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
• The ability of fireweed angustifolia to suppress the reproduction of the herpes simplex virus in tissue cultures has been established.
• Chanerol, derived from fireweed, has an antitumor effect. Not for nothing in Russia healers used Ivan-tea in the treatment different kind malignant tumors.
• Ivan-tea has a calming effect on the central nervous system, is very effective in the treatment of neuroses. Along with this, decoctions of fireweed angustifolia enhance the effect of sedative and hypnotic drugs, have an anticonvulsant effect. It is a mood modulator, reduces aggressiveness, stress protector. Helps with headaches, insomnia.
• Ivan-tea has a positive effect on the work of the heart, thanks to the hyperoside contained in the vegetable raw materials.
• Fireweed preparations in the form of an infusion are used in the treatment of various kinds of eczema, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and other skin diseases.

The beneficial properties of Ivan tea do not end there.

The benefits of Ivan tea

Ivan tea is one of the most melliferous plants. That is why beekeepers go with beehives to fireweed glades. High quality fireweed honey pleasant taste and is valued for its beneficial properties. In Russia, fresh willow-tea leaves were eaten as lettuce leaves, and the rhizome and stalks of fireweed were boiled and served as a side dish. Crushed Ivan-chai roots were added to flour and porridge to sweeten and add satiety. A drink made from roasted crushed fireweed roots is very reminiscent of coffee. Fireweed fluff also benefited: they stuffed blankets, pillows and even mattresses. A calm and deep sleep on such bedding was ensured.

How to collect Ivan tea

Ivan tea is harvested from July - during the flowering period. The weather for collecting Ivan-tea must be dry, and the collection itself must be carried out in the morning. Choose healthy plants and collect a little from each so as not to harm the plant. Some also recommend picking the tops of young plants in May. It is believed that docked shoots will begin to bush, and by the beginning of flowering, the leaves on the plants will be much larger than usual.

How to make Ivan tea

The collected raw materials should be processed according to all the rules so that the beneficial properties of Ivan tea are preserved and fully revealed, and this is a serious process that requires attention and time. So:

• Withering:
  • Ivan-tea leaves are scattered with a layer no thicker than 5 centimeters for a day or a day, so that they become slightly lethargic, do not forget to mix the layers so that the leaves are evenly cured. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight.
• Twisting:
  • dried willow-tea leaves are twisted between the palms of the hands until they darken from the juice that has come out.
• Fermentation:
  • twisted leaves are laid in a layer of 5 centimeters in an enameled or glass dish, covered with a damp cloth and placed for 6-12 hours in a warm place (24-27 C). The higher the temperature, the faster the fermentation process. The end of the fermentation process can be determined by the change in smell to a rich floral-fruity.
• Drying:
  • to dry, the fermented leaves of Ivan tea are finely cut, spread on baking sheets covered with parchment, a layer of 1-1.5 centimeters and dried at a temperature of 100 C for about an hour. If there is no oven, you can dry in the sun.
• Storage:
  • it is important to store prepared Ivan tea in tight packaging: glass jars with lids. Ivan tea ripens for about a month and in the future only increases its taste and aroma. Keeps for about two years.
• Brewing:
  • Rinse the teapot with boiling water and put 2-3 teaspoons of dried Ivan-tea into 0.5 liters of water, you can add a little dry Ivan-tea flowers to the dry leaves. Pour boiling water over a third of the teapot, wait 5 minutes and add boiling water until full. It is better to insist for 10 minutes. The proportions of tea leaves to water (purified or spring) can be changed to taste. By the way, without compromising the taste, benefits and aroma, boiling water can be added to the tea leaves several times.

Ivan tea (fireweed), contraindications

As such, no contraindications have been identified for fireweed. Of course, there may be signs of individual intolerance. Long-term use of tea, in some people, can cause indigestion.

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