How to make homemade fermented raspberry leaf tea

I’ll tell you now how to prepare homemade fermented tea from raspberry leaves for the winter, and step-by-step photos will demonstrate the process.

First, let's collect raspberry leaves.

It is better to take tender leaves that grow in the shade. Under no circumstances should you wash the leaves. You didn’t collect it along the road, did you?

To wilt our leaves, we fold them in a dense layer in a jar of suitable size.

The denser the filling, the better. Close the jar with a lid and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. If it’s cool at home, you can put the jar on the windowsill in the sunlight.

After the specified time, remove the dried leaves from the jar. The leaf blade has become limp and slightly darkened, the petiole and veins have lost their fragility. And the leaves themselves acquired a light fruity aroma.

Next, you need to thoroughly crush the leaves with your hands. It is possible, and even necessary, to use the technology of rolling a small part of the leaves between the palms to improve the destruction of their structure.

Since the raspberry leaves are quite dry, in the middle of the kneading process we add 3 tablespoons of boiled cold water to the foliage. You need to work with the leaves for at least 20 minutes.As a result, the inside of the leaf should change its whitish color to dark. The volume of the mass will decrease by approximately 3 times its original value.

Compact the mass ready for fermentation with your hands and cover with a damp cloth. Cover the top of the bowl with a thick towel and leave to brew for 8 hours.

During this time, we check several times to see if the fabric is dry. If necessary, moisten it.

When the tea smells of a delicate fruit and berry aroma, you can stop the fermentation process and begin drying the tea.

Before placing the leaves in the bowl of the electric dryer (or baking sheet, when drying the herbs in the oven), you need to separate all the leaves. Lumps of green mass will dry for a long time and unevenly.

Dried raspberry leaf tea is kept covered for a month for dry fermentation. During this period, raspberry leaves seem to be infused, and tea, when brewed from such leaves, acquires a rich taste and aroma.

Tea dried for the winter must be stored in a tightly sealed container. Glass or plastic are perfect for this. It is advisable to store the leaves whole and chop them before brewing into tea. Tea prepared from raspberry leaves can be stored in this form for 2 years.