Ivan fermented tea collection and preparation. Ivan tea: fermentation of leaves at home

Fireweed, or more scientifically, fireweed, has been known since ancient times as the “weed from fires.” It got its nickname due to the fact that after fires it is the first to grow on the burnt soil in order to prepare it for colonization by new crops. The seeds of this plant, due to their volatility, can be effectively spread by the wind and sow large fields. But it is far from being a weed, as many people think it is. This is a valuable plant that has been used since ancient times as a tasty and healing drink.

Proper fermentation is the key to success

Not everyone knows how to properly ferment Ivan tea at home. To create a high-quality natural product yourself, you should try hard. It’s pointless to simply dry and drink the leaves. In this case, you will not get either the taste or the healing properties that fermented fireweed has.

Ivan tea contains insoluble beneficial substances in its structure. Only proper processing helps turn these substances into soluble substances and allow the body to absorb them.

Fermentation involves several stages:

Collection of leaves.
Their drying.
Twisting.
The fermentation itself.
Drying.
Storage.

Only after this can you brew and drink tea. And let's look at the most popular ways to ferment this amazing herb.

Collecting leaves

This point is fundamental, since if the leaves are collected incorrectly, all further efforts will simply be in vain. Here are some simple tips:

You only need to collect the top leaves and flowers (no seeds needed).
Fireweed is collected after 10 a.m. The fact is that until 10 o’clock, most often, there will be dew on the leaves.
Experts do not advise collecting leaves in the heat, as all the raw materials will wither and lose all their properties.
After collecting fireweed leaves, you need to pay attention to ensure that there are no living creatures on them.

The simplest (standard) way

The upper flowers and leaves without seeds are collected. As already mentioned above, it is necessary to ensure that no living creatures, in this case bedbugs, are caught during collection. Even a small bug can spoil the smell of future tea. It’s not for nothing that in ancient Rus' our ancestors used to say: “A small bug, but a stinking one!”

The leaves are slightly withered in the shade and intensively kneaded in the hands. Next, the leaves and flowers are placed in a jar, compacted very, very tightly. It is covered with a damp cloth (this measure is necessary so that the cloth does not absorb the juices of fireweed). After this, the container is placed in a dark place for 1.5 days, that is, for 36 hours. Next, the material is taken out of the jar, loosened and dried at a temperature of 95-105 C. Usually dried in the oven. If you wish, you can make tea of any shape from the starting material (round, plates, oblong, etc.).

When drying, it is important to constantly monitor the condition of the fireweed. It needs to be stirred all the time (if it is a tile, turn it over). During drying, you will notice how the leaves begin to acquire a beautiful shade: from light brown to darker. The drying time of loose fireweed depends on you, that is, you rely on your eye. If tea is dried in the form of a tile or rolled, then drying is determined by weight. The ratio of raw to dried leaves should be 5:1. That is, if you put 100 grams of raw leaves, they will be ready when only 20 grams remain.

Store the finished tea under a lid, in an opaque container and always in a place protected from the sun. Shelf life is no more than 3 years.

The old way

The fermentation of fireweed did not begin in our time. Our ancestors also enjoyed this drink. But then there were no ovens to dry the fragrant leaves, so a slightly different method was used.

Lay fireweed leaves on a dampened tablecloth in a layer no higher than 3 centimeters. Afterwards, the canvas is rolled into a tube more tightly. Outwardly, it should resemble a large cigar.

As with the jar, the tablecloth is moistened so that it does not absorb the fireweed juices.

The tube is tightened with a rope and intensively kneaded with your hands, bending it in different directions. They knead it for about half an hour. This method allows you to destroy the cellular structure of fireweed leaves. Afterwards, the twist is left for the duration of fermentation. The initial fermentation lasts up to 3 hours. Sometimes you should check the temperature of the tube. If it has increased significantly (more than 37 C), then the preliminary fermentation is over.

The result should be dried grass with a distinct smell of fermented fruit.

Afterwards, this grass must be put into jars, compacted well and closed with a lid. Now fermentation of Ivan tea is carried out in full. The final fermentation takes 36-40 hours. Its duration, of course, can be extended if you place the container with the product in a cool place. In this case, the finished tea will have a more pronounced taste and aroma. If fireweed is harvested in the late period (July-August), another stage of “fermentation” is carried out.

To do this, we take the material out of our jar and begin to crush it until the leaves begin to yield juice.

Advice: If you are too lazy to mash fireweed by hand, then you can put it through a meat grinder. Before doing this, you should take out the auger so that it does not cut the leaves. However, please note that this method of preparation is considered undesirable, since the taste and quality of the tea will not be the same.

After we have kneaded our raw materials, we place them in a pile and cover them with a damp cloth for 8 hours at room temperature. After 6 hours, we begin to check our pile for elasticity. If the raw material has acquired a rubber structure, then we dry it immediately.

To do this, put the raw materials on a baking sheet and put them in the oven. Set the temperature to 100 C. During drying, periodically stir or turn the fireweed over. Also, the door must be slightly open. Ideal if you have clay bricks. They will help regulate the temperature and thanks to them, the Ivan tea will not burn to the bottom of the pan. In 1.5 hours the tea will be ready.

In general, people who have no experience working with this material can easily dry up to 500 grams of the finished product in 1 day.

Fermentation in own juice

This is also a fairly popular method, which allows you to obtain fragrant leaves from fireweed. To do this, we divide the collected raw materials into two parts. The first part will be used for juice, the second will be the raw material for fermentation.

The first part must be passed through either a meat grinder or a juicer. The second one is preferable. Consider the fact that there will be very little juice, even when using the coolest juicer. Therefore, if we strained a little, we don’t worry – it’s normal.

Now take the second pile and put it in the pan. Fill this pile with juice. We take a lid, it should be smaller in diameter than the pan and place this lid on our material. We place a heavy load of at least 20 kg on top. Fermentation in its own juice takes three days. After fermentation, the raw materials must be thoroughly dried. Dry it in the oven at 90 degrees.

Why ferment fireweed?

Fermentation is fermentation. That is, during fermentation, chemical reactions occur that change the structure of the raw material. In this case, it only improves its characteristics. In addition, the taste of the tea itself, which is not inferior in quality to Indian or Ceylon, is no less important. We are used to drinking ordinary green or black teas, which do not bring any benefits. Why not treat yourself to a more delicious drink, with the following arsenal of positive properties:

Tea has antioxidant properties.
Boosts the body's immune system, effectively resists viral diseases, and relieves inflammation.
Studies have shown that fireweed is considered the most useful plant in the Russian flora.
Normalizes blood pressure.
Constant consumption of fermented fireweed can help you get rid of insomnia.
Drinking tea can cure stomach ulcers and restore normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Effectively fights the herpes virus.
Constant consumption of this drink can improve a person’s psychological state. His irritability decreases, headaches go away, depression disappears.
Effectively fights arrhythmia.
Improves skin condition, fights acne and wrinkles.
Has a slight analgesic effect.
Has no side effects.
Not addictive.

Fermented fireweed is a very healthy drink. Moreover, this is not a banal, tasteless medicine; on the contrary, tea has an amazing aroma and taste.

If our article was not enough for you, then we invite you to watch the video.

Guryeva Ksenia, 19845

Benefits and harms, contraindications and side effects, proper preparation of fireweed.

The well-known willow herb grows in fairly accessible places, so many herbalists successfully collect it themselves. In order for it to be beneficial and not harmful, it must be properly collected, fermented and dried. Preparation of fireweed tea has its own characteristics.

Based on knowledge of medicinal herbs and the conviction that Ivan-grass is absolutely harmless, and even children can drink tea from it. However, not everything is so simple; when drinking fireweed, unexpected side reactions may occur if the medicinal raw materials were collected in places that were contaminated or poisoned by something. Even grass collected near the roadway may have a composition poisoned by exhaust gases, which is unlikely to be useful for treating a child or adult. Individual intolerance to the plant is also a contraindication.

The instructions for use of fireweed tea say that it will be useful in the treatment of stomach or intestinal ulcers, helps reduce high body temperature and neuropsychic tension, depressive reactions.

Ivan tea also helps dissolve kidney stones, strengthen the circulatory system, and treat migraines. Tea is harmless for children and women during lactation.

You could write an entire dissertation on the beneficial properties of fireweed. Koporye tea, once popular all over the world, has now become fashionable again. And many people rushed to prepare it themselves. People use this healing drink themselves and sell it to others, but not everyone knows how to properly collect raw materials, ferment it with their own hands and dry this miraculous plant.

If the instructions are not followed in full, then you can lose the precious medicinal properties of angustifolia fireweed.

Therefore, I would like to consider the most common mistakes in preparing fireweed tea at home.

8 mistakes when picking and drying fireweed yourself

Chamaenerion angustifolium (or popularly called fireweed)

One of the most popular harvesting methods is drying. Then the herbal tea has a light green tint. Fermentation is required to obtain other shades. The color depends on the degree of fermentation: green, red, black.

But the fermented drink has greater beneficial properties than just a dried leaf.

A non-professional can make several mistakes that will not only spoil the result and kill the healing properties, but also create a risk of poisoning.

Assembly

Main mistakes at this stage:

1. No matter how funny it may sound, the very first mistake is picking the wrong grass. Angustifolia willowherb is easily confused with other representatives of the fireweed family, which do not have the same medicinal qualities: fuchsia, biennial gaura, clarkia. Take a close look at the photo below:

Fireweed angustifolia

The danger here also lies in the fact that the plant can also be confused with poisonous gifts of nature, so before starting assembly it is important to know fireweed by sight.

2. Often fireweed grows near railway embankments and highways. This herb should not be collected for medicinal purposes. Mistake #2 – collecting grass that is slagged with unnecessary impurities.

3. Fireweed, as a rule, is collected at the very beginning of the flowering period, then Koporye tea will have the most pronounced aroma and taste. Therefore, another typical mistake is collecting in the spring, even before the flowering period.

4. After fireweed has faded, a seed pod begins to form. After this, the leaves of the plant are no longer suitable for harvesting. Otherwise, you simply won’t be able to get rid of the fluff in your tea.

5. In their haste, would-be pickers often do not carry out high-quality culling of raw materials, and damaged parts of fireweed, which are undesirable for treatment, end up in the general basket.

Drying at home

The final stage of preparing homemade Koporye tea is the drying stage. It is correct to carry out this procedure in a dark, ventilated area. If you don’t have one in your home, you can use the attic.

6. A typical violation is drying in the light, especially in direct sunlight.

Some people prefer a cool stove or an open oven on low heat. This is also a good option, but:

7. The problem may lie in exceeding the temperature regime.

8. It is also fundamentally wrong to dry it in the oven with the lid closed without access to fresh air.

Conclusion: self-harvesting is possible, but if you are not confident in your abilities, then purchasing from specialists is a more reliable option.

7 mistakes when fermenting fireweed at home

Fermentation

Fermentation is an important process in the processing of any tea. If you prefer black tea and even want to see a herbal drink in this form, then fermented fireweed is just for you. But it needs to be fermented correctly to avoid undesirable consequences and loss of beneficial characteristics.

Fresh leaves of this herb ferment rather poorly. That's why they are dried first. Another mistake would be to exclude this procedure from the process.
The drying process involves placing the raw material in a glass jar in a well-lit room. Do not use direct sunlight for this process.

After completing the drying phase, the drying procedure proceeds to the next phase of preparation - kneading by hand or in a meat grinder.

It is a mistake to miss this stage, because it is at this moment that the juice necessary for further processing is released.
In addition, many inexperienced harvesters, to make their work easier, put it through a meat grinder, although in the end they plan to get leaf fireweed. And vice versa, they roll it by hand, wanting to get a granular version.

Then this whole mess is placed in an enamel container, covered with a lid and sent under pressure.

Mistake #5 – making the pressure too great. In this case, the lower leaves will ferment much faster than the upper ones. This is fraught with souring.
The optimal time for the immediate fermentation stage of homemade fireweed tea is 10-15 hours. This process should not be allowed to drag on for 2 or more days.

Storage

The ideal way to store prepared fireweed tea is in a paper or fabric bag in a dark place.

Those who believe that an ordinary plastic bag placed on a window is suitable for storage are mistaken. In the bag, when exposed to light, the raw materials may become damp.

Conclusion: Good quality depends on many factors. Therefore, if you are not sure that you can properly prepare medicinal fireweed tea, then it is better not to do it yourself, but to purchase a high-quality collection from professionals.

Methods of preparation and fermentation that have taken root among the people

Fermentation of leaves with branches
“The herb is sold in the pharmacy, but I like to collect it myself. I do it this way. I bring armfuls of fireweed home and involve my family in healthy fermentation. Fermentation is needed so that the herb is more aromatic and healthy.
It's done like this: take one branch of fireweed, and press, grind, squeeze out the juice with your hands, the juice and aroma will come out, then put this finished branch in a basin, and do the same with all the branches. Then lay the grass on the windowsill, cover with gauze or a rag on top to keep flies and dust away. Turn over more often to prevent rotting. Sometimes I dry it directly in the basin, it remains more aromatic and healthy. When the grass is dry, place it in a cloth bag. Enjoy your tea, good health!!!"
Maria
(method No. 1)

Collection, drying, fermentation (manually and with a meat grinder), storage
“You need to collect fireweed for harvesting at the time of flowering. Only the leaves are collected. The best time for collecting is the afternoon. Collection should be carried out in dry weather.
Scatter the collected leaves in the shade and leave to dry. We scatter leaves on the table in the house. Drying can last from 6 hours to a day. Our leaves wilt in a little less than a day. The most important thing here is not to dry them out. Leaves should not break! They should look like wilted greens, but under no circumstances should they dry out! When rolled, the leaves release juice.

Now we proceed to the most important process - fermentation. For fermentation, it is necessary for the leaves to produce juice. This can be achieved in several ways:

you can mash the leaves in a bowl (like mashing cabbage for salad or dough),

you can roll the leaves (this is the longest way),

You can pass the leaves through a meat grinder.

In the first two cases, you will receive loose leaf tea. When passed through a meat grinder - granular. We use a meat grinder - this is the easiest and fastest way.

Now we put the prepared raw materials in an enamel bucket or pan and put it under a press. Cover the bucket with a damp towel. During the entire process, make sure that the towel remains damp. Fermentation time: from several hours to one and a half days. Fermented tea changes color to brown and changes in aroma. The longer you ferment the tea, the more tart it will be when brewed. We ferment the tea for 12-15 hours. This is a medium fermentation.

Now the tea needs to be dried. Place the tea on a baking sheet and dry with the oven slightly open. We set the temperature to 100 degrees. Stir occasionally and monitor the condition of the tea so as not to dry it out. When the tea has dried, take out the baking sheet and cool. It is best to store fireweed in glass jars or tea cans. We store fireweed in a glass jar."
Elena, St. Petersburg
(method No. 2)

Fermentation in a jar
“This herb is harvested mainly during the entire flowering period of this plant, from approximately July to August, since during this period the leaves contain the greatest amount of odorous and beneficial substances.
So, the preparation method:

1) collect leaves, as much as your heart desires, and of course, as much as you have the strength to do (I collected a little for the first time and tried to do it.

2) we bring it home, sort it out and wash it, then dry it and wilt it a little.

3) then we prepare a jar of the required size, I take a three-liter one.

4) we take the leaves and stuff the container with them, very, very tightly, while we crush the leaves and thus disrupt their cellular structure, thereby preparing them for fermentation.

You can also grind them through a meat grinder or cut them, you will get finer leaf tea. Well, I mostly make large sheets.

After two days, open and check, our leaves should darken and a sweetish fruity aroma should appear (more like fermented compote, or something floral), the aroma is interesting and pleasant. If we want our tea to be closer to green, then we let it sit for a little less time.

Next I begin twist Leaves in a manner similar to kneading dough, knead until the juice is released and the leaves begin to curl, while you need to make sure that they do not stick together, periodically straightening them. Well, if you’ve put it all in a meat grinder or finely chopped it, then you can lay it out on a baking sheet and start drying, which I’ll talk about later. Having done all these manipulations, we should end up with curled leaves that we can cut or dry entirely.

We preheat the oven to 100 degrees, place our raw materials on a baking sheet, you can take a layer of 2-3 cm, it all depends on its depth and put it in the oven, let the raw materials warm up a little, the oven will start to fog up. Now you need to open the oven a little, you can insert a spoon between the door so that a small gap appears.

A little later, I reduce it to 50 degrees and continue drying until ready, periodically stirring our future tea. But you can also dry it at 100 degrees; the tea from such drying will be even stronger, but there will be fewer beneficial properties. Therefore, the best drying is recommended up to 50 degrees; you can also use a regular dryer for these purposes.

At the moment I tried drying it with cut leaves, it also turned out well.
It is better to brew tea in a thermos, or in a kettle if you don’t have one. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and you’re ready to drink. In the same way, you can make tea from the leaves of raspberries, currants, cherries and many other herbs. Then you can create different compositions by mixing them, thereby obtaining tasty and healthy drinks. I wish everyone a pleasant tea party!"
Eva, Borovsk
(method No. 3)

Oven drying after meat grinder
"When brewed, this tea has a subtle, pleasant aroma. It is pleasant to drink, it is better without sugar, in order to feel the fullness of the taste. For one cup, I add about 2 teaspoons of dry fermented fireweed. The tea turns out black, just like store-bought tea. You can brew a second one and even the third time - it turns out weaker, but still tasty.
This is how I ferment Ivan tea. I collect leaves during flowering (late June - early July) away from roads. I spread the leaves in a thin layer in the shade or at home to dry, and leave it like that for 6-7 hours. Then I grind it in a meat grinder (electric or manual, I tried both) into an enamel bowl and cover with a damp cloth. I leave it like this for about 12-15 hours. The mass acquires a pleasant smell.

Then I spread it on a baking sheet in a thin layer and dry it in the oven over low heat with the door ajar. It should dry until most of the tea leaves begin to break. Turn off, let cool and transfer to a clean cotton bag and hang it in a dry place. There it will dry completely. To prevent mold, you need to shake the bag periodically (several times a day). And after a month, the tea can be put into containers and stored for a whole year (probably it can be longer, I haven’t tried it).”
Galina, Cheboksary
(method No. 5)

Collection of leaves and natural drying
“This is the second summer I’ve been preparing Ivan tea on my own. As it turns out, there’s nothing complicated about it.
We start collecting leaves at the very beginning of flowering, and tear off those in the middle, not the lowest ones, but not the tops either. We collect it directly into the bag.

At home I put it through a meat grinder. In the village I have an ordinary mechanical meat grinder, so the process is long and labor-intensive. I haven't tried this on an electric one. As you scroll, juicy soft sausages are formed.

After rolling, the “sausages” are dried. But not forcibly (in the sun, stove...), but simply in a well-ventilated area. In the village we dried it in a bathhouse, leaving the door open. In a week it has time to dry and turn into greenish-brown dry balls.

All! Ready to brew. Personally, we brew it with black tea or separately, but with honey. It turns out very tasty and healthy!"
Alla
(method No. 5)

Terms of drying, fermentation, readiness
“I tried a wonderful drink four years ago. And now I only drink it.
I start collecting in July.

I dry it for 5 hours, then grind it in a meat grinder.

I pour the twisted raw materials into a two-bucket enamel pan, cover with a wet towel and place in a greenhouse for 8 hours until a fruity smell appears.

Then I place it on a baking sheet and dry it in the oven at 90 degrees.

I sort the dried tea into glass jars. After 37 days you can drink."
Vyacheslav, Khanty-Mansiysk
(method No. 6)

Fermentation time and drying outside
“I tried fireweed and fell in love, and when I found out that it grows everywhere - I don’t want to collect it, I took 6 bags and went to collect it, finished it in 3 hours, it’s easy to collect, just run your hand down the trunk and grab the leaves.
Then I stomped on the bags and left them overnight. I know they do it differently, but I’m telling you my method.

In the morning I chop it with a large knife and press it into jars, placing them upside down. The temperature was about 25-29, sometimes it was placed in the sun.

I check every 6 hours for the presence of a floral smell, sometimes you have to remove the top layer (which smells) and leave the rest of the herb to ferment further (it gives itself away as the smell of fresh grass). It is very important to monitor this process, otherwise your tea will sour and look like silage. Therefore, it is better to underexpose than to overexpose.

I pour the entire contents of the jars (when ready) onto linen (or any other fabric) and dry them in the shade; if outside (in hot summer), then I take them home at night; if at home, I shake them every 3 hours.

This drying process takes about 3 days, but the tea it produces is not strong, more green, rich in the taste of honey, large-leaf, but the smell is disgusting, so I add thyme and some other yellower, aromatic plant that blooms everywhere in the Black Earth Region, unknown to me, it turns out very GOOD) Out of six completely stuffed standard bags, 2 came out dry, 3 mixed with thyme.

We drink tea 2-3 times a day, re-brew a 0.5 teapot 3 times, it has a taste (although we add half a teaspoon of honey, but it has almost no color at the end."
Shumilova, Voronezh
(method No. 7)

Drying temperature after fermentation
“I would like to share a simple technology at home. The plant is called Ivan-tea and grows throughout Russia.
The leaves must be collected before the flowers appear; not all should be picked off, so that the plant does not die.

The leaves need to be dried for several hours in the shade and not in the heat.

Then the leaves need to be twisted with your palms to get large-leaf tea - but this is a difficult task and we decided to make long-leaf tea rather than large-leaf tea - for this you just need to turn the leaves in a meat grinder (it’s better for a man to twist it in a regular mechanical meat grinder - an electric one just doesn’t work) and let lie under gauze for 6-7 hours (fermetization occurs - that is, fermentation).

After fermentation, you need to pour a layer of 2 -3 cm onto a baking sheet and keep it in the oven at a temperature of 140 - 150 degrees until the tea dries completely and blackens (about an hour), if the temperature is set to 100 *, then the tea will turn out green. "
Julia, Taganrog
(method No. 8)

Detailed process of fermenting leaves and flowers at home
In our settlement of family estates in the Smolensk region, fireweed grows everywhere, in incredible quantities, thickets - taller than human height, and in fact would be enough to export to Europe! 🙂

1. So, we collect the upper part of the plant, along with the leaves and flowers - they break off easily, in 5-10 minutes you can collect a fair armful.

2. Next, leave for 12-20 hours (but no more than 24!) in the shade, in a dry place, to slightly wilt. The main thing is not to dry it out! There must be enough sap left in the plants for fermentation. Also, it is better to wilt entire branches rather than individual leaves.

3. Then we pick off the leaves and flowers from the branches.

4. Rub the leaves and flowers between your palms, with force, so that the cells burst and the fermentation process begins. The leaves release sap and darken.

We place it tightly in an enamel or ceramic dish with a layer of 5 cm, then press it on top with a fist, cover it with a damp towel and leave it for 20-24 hours to ferment at a temperature of 25-27 degrees.

You can control the fermentation process by smell; when the process is completed, instead of the usual herbal smell, a very pleasant, candy smell appears.

5. Place a layer of the finished mass on a baking sheet and dry in the oven at a temperature of 100-150 degrees, about 40 minutes, sometimes more. Stirring regularly. Ready, dried tea acquires a dark brown to black color.

Leave for a while to allow the residual moisture to evaporate and pour into storage containers.
Koporye tea is ready! Enjoy your tea!"
Vasily, Smolensk
(method No. 9)

Two fermentation recipes
"And now recipes on how to prepare them yourself:
1st method. You pick it up and dry it so that the sheet is plastic, roll it through a meat grinder into a jar, there is no need to compact it, close it with a lid and put it in the warmest place. and you wait for such a fruity-wine smell to appear. When you open the lid, it may even sound like “Pyshshshh”. And dry it, preferably in the sun; we haven’t really tried it in the oven. Moreover, the temperature in the oven is high and it destroys some of the beneficial enzymes.

2nd method. Sheet. We dialed. You don’t even have to dry it, put it in a fabric bag, preferably linen. And crumple it there, crumple it, twist it, so that the leaves release juice, and then into the jar, and this one needs to be compacted, and then also in a warm place, until the Aroma appears :)

How to choose a good fireweed tea(for those who don’t want to prepare it themselves)

1 If it’s granular, then look to see if there are any inclusions in the granules, like sticks; if there are, it means they were rolled along with the stem, and this is already the 3rd grade. Only the earliest spring shoots can be with the stem, since they are very tender, milky, but in this case the sticks are barely visible or not visible at all.

2. Leafy. In fact, the sheet is so neat, beautiful, rolled through rollers, there are special ones, but they are also metal, like the granulator. Therefore, both are good.

And in general, COMRADES!! Don’t worry about the fact that when it’s rolled through a granulator and a meat grinder, the contact with the metal is so minimal that nothing fatal has time to happen there, the most important thing is where it is fermented. This is for those who are fans of Eco Eco :)"
Marina
(method No. 10)

Drying time for flowers and leaves in the oven
“In general, I went to the dacha in the summer, collected these beautiful flowers in the field (both flowers and leaves are used). Before drying, I separated the stems from the leaves and flowers.
Then I laid them (leaves and flowers) to dry for a couple of days (2-3 days), and did not forget to turn them over from time to time. Then there are two ways: either send them to a meat grinder or roll them into a tube. I did both (half and half).

Then I put them in the oven to dry, but didn’t dry them for a long time, about 30-40 minutes. The main thing here is not to overcook it; you don’t need to heat the oven too much, otherwise you’ll burn it. And that’s it, our tea is ready! =) With long-term storage, the healing properties and taste do not disappear, but on the contrary, they only increase."
Svetlana
(method No. 11)

Fermentation in a basin, oven drying
“I’ll write right away how I make tea from it.
I collect leaves directly from the stem during flowering, tearing them off from top to bottom.

I lay it out in the shade to dry for about a day, stirring it periodically. It is important to wilt well and not overdry. A well-cured leaf does not crunch when bent.

The next step is to destroy the leaf structure to start the fermentation process. This can be done in different ways. She tried to scroll the leaves in an electric meat grinder, but for her it turned out to be too much work, it put a very large load on the mechanism. Maybe you need a more powerful one. You can roll “sausages”, but it takes a long time.

I do this: I take an enamel basin and knead the leaves in it. You need to knead, crush, grind with force for 20-30 minutes, until the leaves darken, curl and release juice. As a result, the mass decreases in volume several times.

Next, I put everything tightly into a clean glass jar, crushing it with my hand, cover it with a damp cloth and put it on fermentation. The temperature should be between 26-30 degrees. If it's cold, the jar needs to be wrapped. I ferment for about a day. The smell of the mixture should be pleasant, slightly fruity and floral. I take everything out of the jar and cut it into small portions so that the tea leaves are smaller.

Next, I lay it out on baking sheets and dry it in a slightly open oven, first at 80 degrees for 20 minutes, then at about 40 until the end. From time to time I carefully turn the mixture over with my hands (it doesn’t burn). The oven can be turned off when the bulk is dry and breaks easily. Leave in the oven until cool. All. Tea is ready.

I pour it into medium-sized cardboard boxes. For beauty, I add separately dried fireweed flowers. Also, if desired, you can add dried berries to this tea.)"
Monita_a
(method No. 12)

Koporye tea, prepared from fireweed leaves (Ivan tea), can be made at home. This tea differs from its black or green counterpart in its unusual rich aroma, as well as a huge amount of useful substances. Cooking it yourself will save your family budget from additional expenses.

Fireweed is a very useful herb. Since ancient times, healers have used it to treat insomnia, headaches, and indigestion. Koporye tea, made from fermented fireweed leaves, is simply a storehouse of vitamins and microelements that can have a positive effect on almost all vital human organs.

Watch a video about the benefits of Koporye tea from the channel “Antonio Nemcd” - Benefits of Ivan-tea tea

Preparing fireweed for fermentation

The herbs are collected in dry sunny weather, preferably during the waxing moon. Flowers and leaves are collected separately from each other, since only the green mass of the plant is fermented, and the inflorescences are simply dried and added to the finished dry tea.

The fireweed is sorted out, removing leaves that have become darkened and damaged by insects. It is not recommended to wash greens, as beneficial pollen from other plants accumulates on the foliage, which will also have a positive effect on the benefits of tea.

After harvesting, Ivan tea needs to be dried. This can be done in three ways:

On a flat surface. The sheet mass is spread in an even layer on a piece of fabric or paper and left for about a day. The main condition is that the grass should not be exposed to direct sunlight.
In the bank. The greens are tightly packed into jars of a suitable size, closed with a lid and left for a day away from sunlight.
In the freezer. Let's talk about this method in more detail.

The sorted leaves are placed in small bags that are tightly packed. In this form, the fireweed goes into the freezer for about 12 hours. If there is no opportunity to prepare tea after a set time, then the process of further processing of the leaf mass can be postponed to a later date.

Under the influence of cold, ice crystals form from the juice of the plant, which destroy the structure of Ivan tea. After defrosting, such green mass will be much easier to prepare for the fermentation process.

The frozen leaves are removed from the bags and laid out in a layer of several centimeters on a flat surface covered with a towel. After 30-40 minutes you can start curling the foliage.

Fermentation of Ivan tea

In order for fireweed leaves to change their herbal aroma to fruity, and also enhance their beneficial properties, they must be fermented.

What is fermentation? In essence, this is ordinary fermentation, which occurs under the action of enzymes secreted by the plant itself.

To crush the leaves until the juice forms, you need to apply some physical effort. This can be done in several ways:

Manually. The leaves are “kneaded” like dough until the mass changes its color to a darker color and a sufficient amount of juice is released. After the freezer, this will not be very difficult to do, since the leaf membranes are already significantly damaged by the effects of cold. As a result of this processing, large-leaf tea will be obtained.

Roll leaves between palms. 10-15 fireweed leaves are rolled into the sausage until juice forms. After fermentation, the sausages are cut with a knife to achieve the size of small-leaf tea.

Through a meat grinder. Thawed leaves are crushed using a manual or electric meat grinder, achieving their granular appearance.

Freezing Ivan tea greatly facilitates the formation of juice, which is so necessary for the quality of the fermentation process.

The prepared greens are placed in an enamel or plastic container, covered with a damp towel and kept at room temperature for 2 to 8 hours.

For fermentation to be successful, you need to know the basic rules of this process:

the greater the mass, the faster the fermentation process takes place;
the room temperature should be +22…+24°C;
When the ambient temperature is below +15°C, the fermentation process stops.

After Ivan tea smells of a bright floral or fruity aroma, it is placed on baking sheets in an oven or electric dryer. Koporye tea is dried at a temperature of +60…+70°C.

Watch the video from the Home Channel - How to prepare Ivan tea at home using freezing. The simplest and most delicious recipe!!!

Now is the time to prepare Ivan tea, we have already made the second batch - now there is enough for the winter. This article contains a little information about such an important and necessary process for making tea as fermentation. What is it and why does tea not come out without it?

Properly prepared greens and inflorescences of Ivan tea for brewing allows you to obtain tea that is not inferior in taste and aroma to the best varieties of Ceylon and Indian tea. To be honest, it’s “a matter of taste and color,” as they say, but for a LONG time we have liked fireweed so much more (including how it affects human health) that we no longer consider regular teas a product that can be consumed. In terms of their healing properties, they cannot be compared with Ivan tea.

Surprisingly, we in Russia have stopped appreciating this “green gold”. Only recently have the traditions of producing and drinking Ivan tea begun to be revived, and much has to be learned anew and traditions restored.

In addition to taste, fireweed has a wide range of healing qualities and, unlike regular tea, does not contain caffeine or other harmful substances.

Currently, several methods, or rather technologies, for producing fireweed tea have been patented in Russia, the main secret of which is the technology of the fermentation process (fermentation process).Fermentation (fermentation)

Fermentation consists of roasting and air oxidation. Oxidation starts fermentation processes in the crumpled leaf, which gradually oozes juice. Cooking stops them. The less time passes between the start of fermentation processes and their stop, the less fermented the tea will be considered.

Depending on manufacturing technology Ivan tea can be black (baikhovy), red and green. They taste quite different. In addition, varieties are produced with aromatic herbal additives; you can also cook with berries.

. It is advisable to use herbal infusions, decoctions and teas prepared in only from fermented raw materials . This applies to most medicinal and aromatic herbs. Raspberry, strawberry and currant tea can be made in a similar way. Makes delicious drinks. Now we are trying to prepare tea from currant leaves in this way. The fermented maple leaf tea turned out great!

Fireweed itself protects itself from destruction - it has an amazing ability to reproduce, so fortunately it will not be possible to destroy the population with reasonable harvesting. :-) The broken apical part of Ivan tea very quickly becomes overgrown with lateral flowering shoots, which manage to produce abundant seeds over the summer. And an intact plant produces an amazingly large number of seeds. Thus, fireweed inhabits a variety of places: wastelands, landfills, roadsides, fires, clearings, etc. The territories where unprecedented fires raged in the summer of 2010 will be reclaimed by fireweed. At our fire (an old building burned down), he appeared the year after the fire. Now there is his small plantation there.

It is better to take raspberry, currant, blackberry, and fireweed leaves in the first half of summer, when they are more fragrant. On the contrary, it is advisable to collect strawberry leaves in early autumn, when they accumulate the greatest amount of useful substances.

The plant itself already contains everything necessary for fermentation. These are his own juices and enzymes. If you crush a leaf in your hands, some of the cells will collapse and the plant will release juice. Moist, crushed leaves will contain vitamins, nutrients and intracellular enzymes. These enzymes, emerging from the vacuoles, begin to actively change the biochemical composition of the plant. This is self-digestion.

By the way, brewing Ivan tea does not stain tooth enamel.

Fermentation (chemical process) is a special chemical process caused by so-called enzymes. During the process of fermentation (there are many types of them!), a complex particle of organic matter breaks down into simpler ones, that is, containing a smaller number of atoms.

One way to prepare Koporye tea at home:

The collected leaves and flowers should be dried a little. It is enough if they lie in the shade in the breeze for 2-8 hours, depending on the thickness of the leaves. It is necessary that the leaves lose some of their moisture, but do not dry out, but become soft and not brittle. You can collect leaves from the middle part of the fireweed stem (not just the top), tearing them off with one movement of your hand - quickly, and it does not harm the fireweed at all.
Scroll the raw materials through a meat grinder (we do this exactly - not with our hands, otherwise it is very difficult to prepare fireweed for a large family for the whole year) and place the resulting mass in an enamel bowl and cover with a lid or plate of the appropriate diameter. Place the bowl in a warm place (25-30 °C) for about a day. At this time, an accelerated fermentation process of tea will occur, just like during fermentation.. Soon the mixture will darken and acquire a pleasant fruity-apple aroma. For us, when we cook a lot, we put the mass in a huge enamel pan - at night, in the morning - we already begin drying.
There is another original way to ferment herbs. According to experienced herbalists, in this case the result will be even better. The stock of tea leaves for Berendey tea is prepared as follows: the dried leaves are placed in a cast iron pot (cast iron) and placed in a heated Russian oven for 10-12 hours. Can be done in an electric oven in a roasting pan or any ceramic dish. We keep the temperature around 60 degrees. Prepared leaves for Berendey tea should be stored in a tightly sealed container, like any tea in general. In this case, you can mix different leaves in advance or store them separately and mix them before brewing.
After fermentation, place the leaf in a cast iron frying pan and simmer over very low heat for about forty minutes, or in the oven. Warming up to a hot state is necessary to accelerate fermentation, during which part of the insoluble, non-extractable substances of plant tissue are converted into soluble and easily digestible. These are the substances that give the taste, smell and color of tea.
Then you can do it in different ways. For example, spread the mixture evenly onto a dry baking sheet and place in the oven, preheated to 90 °C. Dry, stirring occasionally, until completely dry. The output will be granulated dark brown tea. Can be dried in a dryer at 45, the tea will be lighter. You can dry it a little in a dryer (so that it doesn’t stick to the trays; after fermentation, the tea is very wet), and then put it in the oven; if you need black and very strong tea, you can put it at 150 degrees.

If you dry the fermented mass at a temperature of 60 ° C and below, you will get green tea... Not quite green, because... after fermentation, it still gives a deeper color, but close to green.

It is not at all necessary to run the raw materials through a meat grinder. You can chop it finely and squeeze it with your hands to release the juice. You can rub it between your palms - into “sausages”.

It is best not to use metal when cooking. This will prevent oxidation of the raw material upon contact with metal and thus protect the vitamins and other useful substances contained in it from destruction. Hand-made tea is different from meat-grinder tea. But preparing it is more difficult; you can make some part like this.

Another suggested method: Grind the berries together with the herbs in a meat grinder: for example, for currant tea, we grind the leaves together with the berries (you can also use the branches with the berries on them), then we ferment the whole mass together and dry it. Haven't tried it yet, but the scent must be AMAZING! Or a little differently - first we ferment the leaves, and before drying we fill them with berry paste, mix and dry. Probably, these two cooking methods will give slightly different results, you need to try it.

When collecting Ivan tea, you should keep in mind that during the flowering process, seed “pods” appear at the top of the stem. During the initial flowering period, they, along with leaves and flowers, are used to make tea. Subsequently, seeds are formed in them and abundant fluff and pods become unsuitable for tea. It is necessary to check the suitability of the raw materials: break the pod and make sure that it is in a state of “milk ripeness”, i.e. does not contain fluff. In general, fluff is not a problem for tea, but it flies a lot when you open the jar. :-)

Drying tea

Fireweed can be dried in conventional dryers, as well as in an electric oven, and, of course, in a Russian oven.

The effect of fireweed on health

Fireweed tea has an astringent, enveloping, emollient, anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic and diuretic effect. It is used for gastritis, colitis, intestinal disorders and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as an antiepileptic and hypnotic. Ivan tea is used to treat anemia, ulcers, wounds, inflammation of the nose and throat, metabolic disorders and inflammation of the mucous membranes, diseases of the kidneys and liver, cardiovascular and genitourinary systems.

Recently, the drug chanerol, which has a pronounced antitumor effect, was obtained from the inflorescences of Ivan tea.

For men, fireweed is useful for the prevention and treatment of prostatitis and prostate adenoma.

Properties of herbs and fermentation

Processing of herbs - fermentation (actually fermentation) is carried out to improve their properties.

Take, for example, a cherry leaf. Crumple it to make the juice appear, you need to break the intercellular membranes. Place in an enamel bowl, cover with a wet towel, keep in a warm place for 3 days, moistening the towel. The leaf should change color and become sticky. Place on a baking sheet and dry in the oven with the door ajar until the aroma of expensive tea appears. The sheet will become brittle and crumble in your hand. So treat each leaf (grass) separately. Then mix the herbs in equal proportions.

In Siberia, mixtures of 3, 9, 12 or 14 herbs are considered healing.

Plants prepared in this way acquire amazing and special properties that would not appear with simple drying.

A simplified method for preparing and fermenting herbs: crush the herbs, put them in a saucepan, cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until the color changes. Then dry in a frying pan and grind through a colander. Brew the mixture in a teapot and drink instead of tea.

Silage and fermentation

To better understand the topic, it is also necessary to mention what silage is, which is prepared for livestock. It turns out that silage is also fermented grass. Very valuable information is a description of the processes that occur during fermentation.

British farmers harvest grasses while they are still in a relatively early stage of growth, high in fermentable sugars (WSC) and low in fibre. Whether the crop is harvested immediately or left on the field to wither for several hours depends on the weather conditions at the time of mowing, but ideally the farmer wants to silage a crop with a dry matter content of 25-30%.

Usually the first phase of fermentation is short-lived. Initially, the trapped atmospheric oxygen in the raw material is used by plant enzymes in still breathing plants, but the oxygen soon runs out, and further fermentation occurs under anaerobic conditions. At this time, lactic acid bacteria, initially present in small numbers, begin to rapidly multiply to a concentration of 109 -1010 cells/g, using sugars released from destroyed plant cells as the main source of energy.

In in the second phase - main fermentation - lactic acid bacteria play the main role, continuing to acidify the feed. Most non-spore-bearing bacteria die, but bacillary forms in the form of spores can persist for a long time in fermented feed. At the beginning of the second phase of fermentation in the silo, it is usually cocci predominate, which are later replaced by rod-shaped lactic acid bacteria, characterized by high acid resistance. Under ideal conditions the pH stabilizes at 3.8 - 4.2, depending on the dry matter content, and the silage is effectively preserved within a few weeks. However, when the dry matter content of the grass clippings is less than 25%, conditions are not ideal and the preservation process may then not proceed well, especially if the level of ASU is also low (as is often the case with grasses grown in temperate climates).

To increase the crude protein content in the silage, as well as improve the fermentation of feed during the laying period, add molasses, urea, soybean meal. Finely chopping cobs and cob wrappers increases the palatability of silage by 30%.

Most leguminous plants are difficult to ensile, because they contain relatively little sugar (3...6%) and a lot of protein (20...40%). Leguminous grasses belong to the category of difficult-to-silage or non-silageable plants. Enzyme preparations not only silage the feed, but also enrich it with easily digestible nutrients. These are celloviridin, pectofoetidin, cellolignorin, glucomarin, etc. In the conditions of Uzbekistan, the enzyme preparation celloviridin was used for ensiling green alfalfa.

When analyzing the development of microbiological processes in silage prepared under natural conditions, it was found that during the spontaneous fermentation process (control silos), putrefactive bacteria grew very intensively, in particular in silage from alfalfa. As a result of the rapid development of ammonifiers in legume silage, the enrichment of lactic acid bacteria slowed down; and in corn silage it was very intense. In the control silage prepared from alfalfa waste, due to the slowdown of lactic fermentation, butyric acid bacteria (titer 103) were observed at the end of the experiment. Due to the strong growth of ammonifiers, the control legume silage had an unpleasant odor of protein decomposition during organoleptic testing. When using additives, the growth of putrefactive bacteria slowed down, which contributed to the preservation of carbohydrates necessary for lactic acid fermentation in the silage.

An excellent silage crop is corn; its stalks and cobs contain 8...10% protein and about 12% sugar. Sunflower ensiles well, as it contains a lot of protein (about 20%), but also enough carbohydrates (more than 20%).

Feeding cows whose milk is used for cheese with poor-quality silage that has undergone butyric acid fermentation causes similar fermentation in the cheese.

Yeast is also undesirable in silage. Typically, after initial rapid reproduction, aerobic species such as Candidas spp. and Pichia spp., remain dormant under anaerobic conditions until the silo is opened for animal feeding. Aerobic deterioration of silage at the surface of the pile can be very rapid and result in complete loss of nutritional value, accompanied by the formation of carbon dioxide, water and heat, as seen in the typical yeast reactions below. If anaerobic conditions are established quickly and the achievement of a low pH is delayed, then in addition to Clostridium species, yeast may also be a problem. Being tolerant of slightly acidic conditions, anaerobic yeasts such as Torulopsis spp. compete with lactic acid bacteria for sugars, which they convert into ethanol and carbon dioxide with a loss of DM and an increase in silage temperature.

Let's return to the main bacteria involved in silage - lactic acid bacteria. Among the lactic acid bacteria of silage there are cocci and non-spore-forming bacilli: Streptococcus lactis, S. thermophilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, and from the representatives of the second - L. brevis. These microbes are anaerobes. The nature of the products formed by lactic acid bacteria is affected not only by the biochemical characteristics of a particular culture, but also by the type of carbohydrates. Plant raw materials contain pentosans, which yield pentoses upon hydrolysis. Therefore, even with normal ripening of silage, a certain amount of acetic acid usually accumulates in it, which is also produced, as is known, by some other lactic acid bacteria from hexoses. Most lactic acid bacteria live at a temperature of 7...42 °C (optimum about 25...30 °C). When heated to 60...65 °C, lactic acid accumulates in it, which is produced by some thermotolerant bacteria, for example Bacillus subtilis.

The third phase of feed fermentation - the final one - is associated with the gradual death of pathogens of the lactic acid process in the ripening silage. By this time, silage comes to its natural end.

The quality of silage feed can be judged by the accumulations during fermentation.

The quality of natural silage fermentation is highly dependent on the number and type of lactic acid bacteria, present in the forage during silage laying. Of the four genera of lactic acid bacteria associated with silage (Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc), over time Lactobacillaceae begin to dominate the silage microflora.

In temperate climates where the sugar content of the forage may be low, the demand for lactic acid bacteria in the silage ASU may outstrip their supply, and a change in the fermentation pattern may occur towards the dominance of heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria.

High nitrate levels in silage can affect subsequent fermentation. The content of ASU in the grass negatively correlates with the level of nitrates used for plant nutrition due to the rapid growth of the grass stand. When the total nitrogen content in the samples exceeds 100 g/kg, it appears that lactic acid bacteria in silage are not able to lower the pH to a level sufficient to suppress the activity of clostridia due to the limited amount of substrate. The results show that secondary fermentation does not occur under such conditions. .

Fermentation of fireweed tea at home. The secret of preparing fireweed tea is fermentation, as a result of which some of the insoluble (non-extractable) substances of plant tissue are converted into soluble and easily digestible. These are the substances that give the taste, smell and color of tea. The process of preparing fermented fireweed tea consists of several stages. 1.Collecting Ivan tea. The leaves are collected in June-August from the beginning of fireweed flowering until it fluffs up. It is necessary to collect in dry weather, away from roads and polluted places, preferably in shaded places along the edge of forest clearings. The leaves of such plants are more tender and juicy, they curl more easily and ferment better, and the tea they make tastes better. It is convenient to collect fireweed leaves by holding the stem near the peduncle with one hand and running the other hand down to the middle of the stem (in the photo this part of the stem is limited by red ribbons). The lower leaves are left on the stem because they are rougher than the top ones. It is advisable to leave 3-4 tiers of leaves under the flowers; the plant needs them to lift moisture from the roots and collect dew. This method of collecting leaves does not harm the plant - it continues to bloom and produce seeds. 2. Withering of the leaves This stage is necessary to make it easier to curl the leaves in the future. The collected leaves are inspected and damaged ones are removed. There may also be snails, so we remove them too. It is better not to wash the leaves before withering, because... beneficial microorganisms involved in the fermentation process can be washed away. Then the leaves are laid out in the shade on cotton or linen cloth in a small layer (3 - 5 cm). On average, the process takes 4-8 hours, depending on humidity and air temperature. On a dry, sunny day the process goes faster, on a rainy and cool day it takes longer (a day or more). Therefore, you need to control the process and periodically stir the leaves every hour so that they wilt evenly. The readiness of the leaf is determined by squeezing the leaf in half. If, when folding the sheet, you feel a “crunch” of the central vein, then the sheet is not yet ready. If most of the leaves do not “crunch,” then it’s time to move on to the next step. 3. Rolling the leaves (or scrolling in a meat grinder, or freezing) At this stage, you need to destroy the structure of the leaf before releasing the juice, which allows you to more fully extract useful substances from the plant and better fermentation. This can be done in one of three ways. The first method is to roll the leaves by hand. Take several leaves (7 - 10), roll them several times between your palms until the leaves darken from the juice that appears. As a result, rolls up to 10 cm long and 1 - 1.5 cm thick will be formed. This process is labor-intensive and time-consuming. If you have a large company, then you can roll up rolls quite quickly. One of the books about fireweed tea says that old people taught how to roll rolls from leaves on a count of one to eight: “one-two - a ball of leaves, three-four - the ball is pulled out into a sausage, five-six - press harder, seven -eight - the twist has time to roll between the palms a few more times and collect the juice.” The second method is to twist the leaves in a meat grinder (grid with large holes). Periodically let the meat grinder cool. Depending on the number of leaves, this takes 10–15 minutes. The third method is freezing the leaves. Place the leaves in the bag in the freezer. As a result, the leaf is destroyed evenly and the juice is released well. By the way, frozen leaves curl very easily and quickly. Therefore, if I decide that I will make loose leaf tea, I first freeze the leaves, then defrost them for a short time, and then roll them. It is believed that the most “correct” tea is obtained by grinding the leaves by hand. I didn't feel any difference. Therefore, I often use the second method, since I prepare tea in large quantities. Everyone decides for themselves which method to choose. 4. Fermentation of leaves The properties of tea - taste, aroma and benefits of the drink - depend on the quality of this process. Leaves prepared using one of the above methods are placed in a layer of 5–10 cm in an enamel or plastic container, pressed down a little, covered with damp linen or cotton cloth and placed in a warm place (24–27° C) for fermentation. Periodically check to see if the fabric is dry. If it’s dry, we wet it again. It is impossible to say exactly how long fermentation will take - it depends on the temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the fermentation process goes. Too high a temperature and overexposure are dangerous - the tea takes on the smell of low-grade tea. The end of fermentation is a change in the color of the mass from green to brown or black, as well as a change in the herbal smell to a strong floral-fruity aroma. There are three degrees of tea fermentation – light, medium and deep. For light fermentation, the leaves are fermented until the first signs of a fruity-floral aroma (3 – 6 hours). After drying they remain green. Brewed tea has a light color, mild taste and a delicate but strong aroma. Medium fermentation tea (10 – 16 hours) is obtained with a pronounced aroma, moderately tart taste with a slight sourness. The color of this tea is rich, reddish-brown. Deep fermentation tea (20 – 36 hours) is tart, without sourness, with a relatively light aroma. The color of this tea is similar to the color of regular black tea. It’s best to find the time for yourself experimentally, preparing weak, medium or highly fermented tea - it all depends on your preferences and tastes. I prepare tea of varying degrees of fermentation, then mix them in different proportions and get teas that are very rich in color, taste and aroma. It is important not to miss the moment of completion of fermentation, otherwise the mass may become moldy. It is better to under-ferment the tea than to over-ferment it. 5. Drying If the leaves were rolled between the palms or frozen, then after fermentation is complete, the rolls need to be cut with a knife into pucks approximately 0.5 cm thick. Then in the end we will get loose leaf tea. If the leaves are scrolled in a meat grinder, we will get granulated tea. Gently loosen the fermented mass so that there are no lumps. Then we spread the mass on baking sheets covered with parchment in a layer of 1 centimeter and dry in the oven at a temperature of 100*C for 1.5 - 2 hours. The oven door should be kept slightly open. Then we lower the temperature to 50* - 60*C and dry it completely until the moisture is completely released. Periodically stir the tea with a wooden spatula and check the readiness of the tea leaves by touch. Well-dried tea has the color of ordinary tea; when squeezed, the tea leaves break, but do not crumble. When the bulk of the tea reaches this condition, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let cool. To remove residual moisture, we dry the tea in a bag made of thin fabric (in an old pillowcase) in the breeze in the shade in dry weather or in a room in rainy and damp weather. You can dry your tea in an electric dryer. You just need to spread the mass not in a very dense layer, but with gaps so that the dryer does not overheat. You can also dry the tea in a thick-walled frying pan. To do this, simmer the mass over very low heat with constant shaking for 30 minutes. Then turn on medium heat and, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula, bring the leaves/granules to a dry state. Carefully! If the temperature is too high and the tea is overexposed during drying, an admixture of the smell of burnt paper appears in the smell of the finished tea. If the tea is not completely dried, it may become moldy during storage. If you have collected fireweed flowers, do not dry them together with the fermented mass, as the flowers dry out faster and at a temperature of 100*C they can simply burn. It is better to dry them separately in the oven or electric dryer. dryer at a temperature of 50 - 60*C. They dry quite quickly. I’ll add that during drying, there is such a magical aroma throughout the whole house that this alone makes it worth making fireweed tea at least once. 6. Storing tea Fireweed tea is stored in a dry, dark place in glass jars with plastic lids, birch bark or metal boxes. I store tea in disposable plastic containers with a label on them indicating the date of preparation and the degree of fermentation of the tea. The tea is aged in jars/containers for at least a month for the so-called dry fermentation. If you try to brew tea immediately after preparation, you may not be impressed by it – it hasn’t steeped yet. The longer the tea is stored, the better it becomes. I always wonder where this “extra” smell comes from after aging tea? In a month - better than in a week. In a year, better than in six months. And so on. Miracles! The optimal shelf life of tea is 2 - 3 years. For daily use, I pour the tea into metal boxes. I like to mix fireweed with dried fireweed flowers, dried strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, lingonberries, mint, lemon balm, oregano... - it turns out very beautifully, and the tea takes on a new taste and aroma. 7. Brewing tea Rinse a clean kettle with boiling water, pour tea at the rate of 1 - 2 teaspoons per glass of boiling water, pour hot water, cover with a towel, let it brew for 10 minutes, then pour into cups without diluting with boiling water. And immediately fill the kettle a second time, because the second infusion of tea is even tastier and more aromatic than the first. After another 15 minutes, pour the tea into cups - do not let it sit. And don’t brew the same tea the next day! Even if you only filled it once, it won’t work out well after a break. They drink Koporye tea hot, warm or cold. When heating cooled tea, try not to allow even the slightest boiling of the drink. The subtle aroma will disappear immediately. You can drink Ivan tea with dried fruits, honey or jam. Sugar makes tea cloying. But you can drink without anything. The taste is already very good! And I read this recipe for Gorodets’ signature fireweed tea in Margarita Voronina’s brochure “Gorodets Tea – Delight for the Soul, Health for the Body.” Bring the water to a boil (when bubbles begin to come off the bottom). Prepare two teapots - a large one and a smaller one. Pour one teaspoon of fireweed tea into a small teapot (per one glass of water), pour boiling water and leave for 7-10 minutes. After this, pour into a large kettle. Pour boiling water over the already steamed tea leaves and leave again. And so on - up to four times. Leave the tea leaves for the last time for no more than three minutes. This is done in order to consistently extract beneficial ingredients from fireweed. The famous chanerol, which helps prevent malignant diseases, is extracted for the third or fourth time. That's all, our Ivan tea is ready! When you try it for the first time, don’t immediately try to compare the taste with something you already know, don’t try to understand what it’s like. Fireweed tea is unlike anything else, it has its own taste, its own and unique. Enjoy this taste!