Culinary blogger Alina Shevtsova gave tips on how to properly harvest medicinal plants. “Gorodskie vesti” reports with reference to “Roskachestvo” that they are good not only for maintaining health, but also as a spice for various dishes.
The main thing when collecting useful herbs is to follow simple but mandatory rules.
For example, harvesting is done only in dry weather. There should not even be dew on the plants. Only the parts of the plant that you need are taken to the warehouse. In order not to disturb the grass population for further reproduction, it is not worth tearing it out completely.
After cutting, herbs quickly lose their beneficial substances and essential oils, which means sending them to dry as soon as possible. There are optimal times for harvesting for each type of plant. For example, lemon balm, dill, fennel, coriander should be harvested before flowering. But mint, thyme, sage should be cut at the beginning of flowering.
Oregano, chamomile and lavender are harvested at the height of flowering.
Flowers and inflorescences are collected by hand or using scoop combs. Garden shears and a sharp knife are suitable for harvesting herbs.
Herbs should be air dried either naturally in the shade or with gentle heating. Otherwise, they may lose their properties.