Linden tea is a fragrant and healthy drink, familiar to everyone since childhood. This is the main remedy that mothers and grandmothers gave us at the first sign of a cold. What is the use of this fragrant flower, how and when to collect it correctly and how to cook healthy tea?
Linden tea properties
Linden flowers are a source of essential oils, vitamins E, C, flavonoids, antioxidants, natural antimicrobial components. They contain effective phytoncides, tannins, antipyretic components. In folk and official medicine it is a recognized medicinal raw material, and very tasty and fragrant. How, why and when to collect linden for tea?
They collect it in order to use it in the autumn-winter period to fight colds, malaise, and strengthen immunity. A pleasant tea is prepared from it, which even children drink with pleasure.
Such a drink has the following properties:
- removes headache;
- has an anti-inflammatory effect;
- has an antimicrobial effect;
- relieves swelling and facilitates nasal breathing;
- facilitates expectoration of sputum;
- stimulates the immune system;
- relieves joint pain.
Linden blossom period - maximum 2 weeks
The combination of linden tea with honey is a classic of the genre. This company will perfectly cope with hypothermia, the first signs of a cold, alleviate the flu, migraine, while simultaneously stimulating the immune system to fight the virus. For one family of 3-4 people, 1 kg of dried lime blossom is enough for the cold season.
How to prepare raw materials
There are several varieties of linden, which differ in flowering time, flower size and crown volume. Early varieties begin the flowering season in mid-June, late varieties from July. It is not for nothing that in the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages the month of July is called lipen. The collection of linden begins a few days after the start of flowering. By this time, most of the flowers will fully bloom, they will smell nice, filling many more meters around with their aroma. Linden blossom is the middle of summer, when grasses and trees have already gained strength after winter and delight the eye with a riot of greenery and aromas.
It's better to pick flowers with your hands
Linden is collected together with a yellow bract, it also has medicinal properties. Inflorescences can be plucked or cut with scissors. It is not permissible to break or cut branches. By the way, the tree is healing with its bark and buds, the gruel of which relieves inflammation on the skin, bruises, and heals wounds.
To collect, you need to choose a clear sunny day, wait until the dew comes down or the wind dries the raindrops on the tree. Collect linden away from highways, railway tracks, city or industrial enterprises. It is best to find a tree at the edge of the forest, in the garden, in the country, they will be less polluted, which means they will bring more benefits. It is not advisable to collect damaged flowers, with rust spots on the bracts, with traces of insects. Sick raw material in itself can no longer be good.
When collecting, you can pay attention to the abundance of insects on the tree, among which the main bees. You have to be careful that they don't sting. It is for this reason that it is impossible to collect linden near apiaries. If we clearly formulate the answer to the question of when to collect lime blossom, then this period stretches from the second half of June to the end of July.
How to dry and store
After harvesting, the linden must be dried in vivo. To do this, it is laid out on a horizontal surface on a cloth or newspaper and turned over daily for airing.
To properly dry the flowers, you need to provide them with air circulation and the absence of bright light. sunlight. It can be a table in the attic, a gazebo, a balcony. If drying is carried out in the oven, the temperature inside should not exceed 40 degrees.
Natural drying time 3-4 days. During this time, the flowers will partially lose their aroma, become crispy and brittle. After that, they can be packed in paper bags, ceramic jars, linen bags. Harvested and properly packaged lime blossom can be stored for 2 years.
It looks like a properly dried linden
From linden, you can prepare fragrant mono tea or add it to other herbs and flowers. It goes well with rose hips, sage, chamomile, clover. For brewing, take a thick-walled mug with a lid, pour 1 tsp into it. dried linden and pour hot boiled water. Close the lid with a hole and infuse for 3-5 minutes. This tea can be drunk with honey and lemon.
You can drink 2-3 cups of linden tea per day. This is a useful and safe rule. You can drink a cup of tea before going to bed, it will calm the nerves, stimulate muscle relaxation and fall asleep quickly.
Linden tea is the most aromatic of all medicinal drinks.
Linden tea can be drunk as a diaphoretic at fever and intoxication. It is good for bloating, as it relieves the symptoms of dyspepsia. Since the flowers are rich in antioxidants such as coumarin and querticin, a tea or decoction of them can act as a preventive measure. oncological diseases.
There are no categorical contraindications to the use of tea. Pregnant women, people with allergies and heart problems take it with caution. It is possible and necessary for the whole family to collect linden and drink fragrant tea from it, it is pleasant, useful, because no one has canceled aromatherapy yet.
The blooming linden is perhaps one of the brightest impressions of summer. A majestic spreading tree is suddenly covered with many small, unusually fragrant, fluffy flowers, the smell of which is familiar, it seems, from birth. The linden tree seen in childhood was vividly remembered. With frequent childhood colds, we remembered him when wise grandmothers instead of powders and tablets gave us tea from linden flowers. Growing up, we tried to buy Linden Blossom (Fiores Tiliae) in pharmacies or harvested linden flowers ourselves. It was widespread in central Russia"local" Linden heart-shaped(small-leaved, Tilia cordata, Tilia parvifolia) with small round-heart-shaped leaves and fluffy inflorescences consisting of many flowers. From some lindens, larger inflorescences were collected, with large, but rare flowers- they were going faster. It was large-leaved linden(broad-leaved, Tilia platyphyllos, Tilia grandifolia), cultivated and already "Russified".
In the photo: Inflorescences of the heart-shaped linden (small-leaved - Tilia cordata, Tilia parvifolia).
Lime tea. Benefit, application.
Folk remedies often turn out to be effective, because they have been tested for centuries and passed down from generation to generation. So is the lime color. He was honored by scientific medicine, it is sold in pharmacies and harvested industrially (the type of Linden is heart-shaped, or small-leaved, - Tilia cordata, Tilia parvifolia). A hot water infusion of linden flowers, or linden tea, doctors prescribe for colds as a diaphoretic: a tablespoon of crushed dry inflorescences is poured with a glass of boiling water, insisted for 20 minutes in a thermos and drunk, strained, a glass or two in hot form. The same warm infusion is used to gargle with stomatitis, gengivitis, pharyngitis and tonsillitis, it is drunk when coughing. IN traditional medicine lime color application much wider. It is believed that linden tea helps with pyelonephritis, cystitis, kidney stones and gallbladder, gastritis, hypertension, irritability, infertility (with the addition goat milk), hormonal disorders among women. It is drunk to improve blood circulation and rejuvenate the body.
Linden. Contraindications. When to collect linden.
The only contraindication for treatment with linden flowers may be individual intolerance, that is allergic reactions. As a rule, it is observed in people suffering from hay fever, that is, pollen allergy, because linden is harvested at the time of flowering: for large-leaved linden it is mid-June, for heart-shaped linden, the end of June - the beginning of July. And although linden tea is very pleasant: it has a beautiful amber-reddish hue, a sweetish taste and a wonderful aroma, you can’t drink it all the time. Like many herbal infusions, linden tea is medicine and its overdose can cause side effects, for example, violations by of cardio-vascular system. In small quantities, lime blossom can be used to flavor tea all the time.
How to collect linden.
Linden inflorescences (“Linden Blossom”) are harvested as medicinal raw materials. This is a semi-umbrella on a long pedicel of 2-11 flowers with multiple stamens, with a large, half-grown, bract (light yellow bract, unlike the rest). When self-procurement of raw materials, a number of rules are observed:
Linden is harvested when most of the flowers have blossomed.
It is impossible to harvest raw materials after rain and in dew, it is better to do this at noon, when the flowers are most open.
You can not collect linden near roads and industrial enterprises.
Collect only healthy inflorescences, not affected by diseases and pests.
You can not cut linden branches, it harms the tree. Scissors cut off one inflorescence or with a knife (secateurs) small branches of 20-30 cm, from which the inflorescences are immediately pinched off.
Linden flowers are laid out in a thin layer, no more than 3 cm and dried in attics, under a canopy in the shade, in a ventilated room or in special dryers at a temperature of + 40-50 ° C.
Properly dried inflorescences are brittle, have yellow or yellowish color, slight smell. The taste of infusion from linden flowers is sweetish, slimy, astringent.
Store lime blossom in paper bags or boxes in a dry place for no more than 3 years.
For reference: Linden inflorescences contain glycosides, essential oil, bitter and tannins, flavonoids, coumarin, saponins, wax, sugar, glucose, carotene, vitamin C, mucus, micro and macro elements.
Nature gives us a lot. It's no secret that our ancestors revered and appreciated everything that surrounded them, because vegetable world so diverse that it can feed a person and make him healthy. For example, linden is a unique gift of nature that helps us with ailments, makes it possible to enjoy the taste and aroma of linden tea and honey. Only now you need to have time to procure raw materials on time, and, most importantly, you need to save them. And as you might understand, today we will tell you how to dry linden.
Why is lime blossom popular?
Nowadays, few people collect herbs, know them, but the linden is known to everyone. It can grow in cities, in forests, linden tea is sold ready-made, and there is also honey. Now it is becoming fashionable to take care of yourself and have healthy body, in which plants, herbs can help well, because people reached out for knowledge. Linden is not only useful when brewing the same tea, but also tasty, but for modern people is the main criterion.
Few people know that our ancestors, the Slavs, considered the tree sacred. It is considered the resting place of the Virgin. Linden is not sawn, not cut, it is planted in holy places. A lot of legends and tales are connected with the tree, many good songs and poems have been composed. The tree for the ancestors was everything - both a source of food, and medicine, and a talisman, and just a talisman. And we must adopt this experience, and dried lime should be with all of us.
Preparing lime blossom
Linden picking
Linden is harvested from June to July. Everyone can understand that the trees have blossomed, firstly, you will see yellow spots among the greenery, these are the flowers, and secondly, the aroma will be incredible. But we want to answer a frequently asked and important question whether it is necessary to wash the linden before drying. Yes need.
In our time, you will not find an area where there would be an ideal ecology, there was no dust, no exhaust. You will be able to tell that the lime blossom is not very pure, although it doesn't seem so at first glance, by looking at your hands while picking it. They will most likely be gray with dust. Also look at the greenery on the tree, everything can be seen from it too. Why take risks, where it is better to play it safe and get excellent raw materials.
This is interesting! In ancient times, linden was revered by many peoples. It was believed that if a tree grows in the center of a city or village, then this is the place of power. Events began here, the procession ended. Newlyweds were crowned with linden branches.
It is easy to wash the linden - you can rinse the whole mass at once through a colander with a shower, you can wash each flower or rinse in a cup of water. After that, it is imperative to lay everything out on a towel and constantly turn it over so that all the water drains and there is no stagnation anywhere, as this place can become a refuge pathogenic environment. After already dry.
How to dry flowers for the winter
There are no complex manipulations here. Everything is quite simple, while dried flowers can be stored for a very long time and used for tea in the winter cold with a spoonful of honey and for the treatment of colds.
So the algorithm will be as follows:
- you go to a forest or a park area, but only where there are no factories, roads;
- collect the lime blossom in a bag with your hands or with a garden pruner. But do not close the bag tightly, it is better to take a bag made of natural fabric;
- at home you sort out the color, remove possible insects, deformed flowers;
- wash and dry on a towel;
- dry naturally or with household appliances.
The last point is the most important in the question of how to dry linden for tea. If you live outside the city, you have a dacha, then it is best to harvest vegetable raw materials without artificial drying, that is, without an oven or dryer. The process will take 3 to 10 days. It is best to spread the flowers on a clean cloth under a canopy or in the attic, where it will be warm, but the air can circulate. If the weather is humid, then it is better to refuse street drying.
Flowers during drying should be periodically turned over. And so that annoying flies do not bother them, it is better to cover with a thin layer of gauze. After that, the lime blossom can be stored and brewed in winter and autumn for delicious tea.
But if you are a resident of the city, then you have an alternative - this is a balcony, where you can also spread the flowers on the table or floor and dry until they become brittle, or use the oven. Dry the raw materials at a minimum temperature of no more than 40 degrees, until the flowers are completely dry.
Important! Never dry linden in direct sun. high temperatures. Yes, you will save time, only the benefits will decrease significantly.
You can use special dryers - this is also Appliances, does not take up much space, will allow you to make blanks in the form of dried fruits, herbs, marshmallows and other things. A handy item for everyone who drives healthy lifestyle life, health care. Depending on the manufacturer, the functions may be different, as well as the power, so how much to dry and how to dry lime in such a device will be described in the instructions.
How to store lime blossom in winter
Flowers are very well kept, do not crumble, although they are fragile. You can put flowers in jars and close with lids, you can use paper bags. The room should not be damp, too cold. Useful properties will remain in the flowers for a whole year, so make yourself tea and enjoy the taste, aroma and benefit your health.
Advice! Linden tea will be ideal in taste and properties if you add lime honey, a slice of lemon and mint to it.
As you can see, everything is very simple. The main thing is to follow some easy rules, and everyone can make stocks without effort and wasting a lot of time.
All materials on the site are presented for informational purposes only. Before using any means, consultation with a doctor is MANDATORY!
Summer is in full swing, so many natural gifts surround us, and we should rejoice in this and use them wisely. Berries, vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits - all this can give us food and health for long years. In anticipation of the time of home preparations for the winter, millions of people collect everything that the garden, the garden gave us, and, of course, in addition to their plot, there are places where a lot of useful things grow in and of themselves. And this applies to linden, which they just don’t do with it. It has been known since ancient times, but we will start with the basics and figure out when to collect linden.
A bit of history and beautiful legends
Well, how could it be without myths, legends, because our ancestors lived at the expense of natural gifts - it was both food and therapy, and they looked very good outwardly, which they were famous for in all ages. The beauty and power of our man has always been admired, and there were no salons, no expensive beauty injections, no pharmacies at every turn. People have been collecting linden for thousands of years, honoring it, and now its relevance has not become less.
Just think, the tree was treated as sacred, no one chopped it, did not break it. Lindens were planted exclusively in fertile places, often near temples, which can still be seen somewhere in the outback. Under the linden groves, residents made decisions and held various events. If a person was ill, then a cross made of tree branches was hung around his neck, and the ailment receded. Subtle flavor attracted bees and other insects, they pollinated the lime blossom, and then produced valuable honey, which was also a healer and food.
And the linden has always been a talisman against the evil spells of witches, demons. Not only aspen could be hidden above the door to protect your home, family from negativity, but also linden. Happy was the man who sat down to rest under a tree, and then fell asleep. The Slavs believed and appreciated, and knew that if you hide under a linden tree during a thunderstorm, then lightning will never strike it. The tree was considered native to mother of god, many verses were composed, wonderful canvases were written, which are shown to us by lindens. We are sure that you did not remain indifferent and also want to collect lime blossom, it's time.
This is interesting! On average, a linden tree will live one and a half hundred years, but there are "old men", whose age, according to approximate estimates, is 350 years.
Do you know when to harvest and harvest linden, and how to do it?
Collection time
There are no complicated answers here, they collect the color of the tree when it is covered with yellow flowers, while most of them have blossomed. In different regions this different dates, also the period may shift due to specific conditions in given year. For example, if it turned out to be a cold and very rainy summer, then the tree may bloom a little later. But you will immediately understand that flowering has begun, because a sweetish, very pleasant, honey aroma will blow in the air. Yellow flowers will be seen from afar, there are always a lot of bees around.
Everyone can recognize lindens, because they are powerful, sprawling trees, they can grow in any area - in the forest, in city parks. If you do not know where to find such a tree, ask any elderly resident of the area, and he knows for sure. Flowering begins around the first decade of July, sometimes at the end of June and until the middle of the second summer month. There are some subtleties that will help you when collecting:
- flowers should bloom in the majority, this is the optimal time;
- never go for linden blossom if it has just rained or in the morning when the dew has not gone;
- Fees are carried out in the morning when it is sunny;
- you need to cut not only the flowers, but also the leaves adjacent to them;
- when it is not very hot outside, about 23-26 degrees, the nectar is released more intensively, there will be more benefits and taste;
- in order to drink linden, tasty and so healthy tea until next summer, you need to collect about a kilogram of color;
- do not pluck the linden if there are signs of disease.
For information! Do you know why it is recommended to collect plants, herbs, flowers in the morning? Scientists have their own opinion, but the opinion of folk healers is much more interesting. They say that after four days nature prepares for sleep, but in the morning it is strong, like people - they rest at night, in the morning and afternoon they are at the peak of activity.
Collection Method
It is important not only to know the timing, but also how to properly collect linden. After all, it so often happens that people got to the place, found the long-awaited tree, but it is not possible to pick up the lime blossom. The tree can be very tall, and all the flowers are much higher. human height. Garden tools can help with this. And, in general, they pick flowers with their hands or carefully cut them with scissors.
Attention! Never collect natural gifts near roads, cemeteries, sewers, factories. You will not benefit, and you can also harm your health.
So, how to pick linden flowers, if the tree is low, is understandable on an instinctive level, do not forget only about the leaves next to the flowers. But if the tree is very tall, then you can use a special garden pruner. Do not rush to run to the store, this is not a familiar tool. Such pruner has a powerful knife, a hole for a stick and a rope. The longer the stem, the higher you can cut the color. You can take this device with you in the car, but the stick can be built up from 2-3 parts on the spot, as it may interfere in the cabin or not fit at all.
Important! Never break branches, do not cut, so that it is convenient to collect raw materials, by doing this you will not benefit yourself or nature. Treat everything with care and gratitude.
Now you know when to pick linden for tea. The drink turns out to be unique, reminds us of childhood, carries great benefit health.
All materials on the site are presented for informational purposes only. Before using any means, consultation with a doctor is MANDATORY!
How to collect, dry and store lime blossom
One of the brightest impressions of summer is the blooming linden. A sweet honey aroma flows in the air, familiar, it seems, from childhood. How pleasant it is to sit cool in the summer heat, under the shade of this beautiful tree, to enjoy its healing, fragrant aroma and the beauty of delicate, pale yellow inflorescences. It is no coincidence that the people called July “lime tree”, and in Ukrainian the name of the second month of summer sounds like that - lime tree.
How to harvest lime blossom
- not only a beautiful plant, but also universal medicine. And not only its flowers are used as medicinal raw materials, but also buds, bracts (wings) and bark.
In the twentieth year of life, the tree blooms. This sweet time begins in June. And when most of the flowers have already opened, healing linden gifts can be prepared for the winter. This is the period from June to July, which lasts about 10 days, and in cool weather - about 2 weeks. Large-leaved linden blooms in mid-June, heart-shaped - at the turn of the first and second summer months.
Do not collect damaged inflorescences, with rust, yellowed or darkened bracts, affected by pests and diseases. Do not do this after rain or dew. Best time for harvesting raw materials - noon, when the flowers are open. For a small family, 1 kg of raw “crop” is enough for a whole year.
When the linden fades, its flowers are no longer suitable for harvesting, as they turn brown and crumble when dried.
Linden blossom should not be collected along highways, near industrial plants and roads. It is better to go out of town, to areas that are away from the highways, for example, into the forest.
It is forbidden to cut a tree, break its branches, collect flowers from lindens that grow near apiaries. Inflorescences can be plucked by hand or cut one at a time with scissors or a garden cutter, always with bracts.
Linden bark is stored in early spring, before flowering, or in late autumn, but only after permission from the forestry. And the kidneys so that they do not lose their beneficial features harvested in spring in dry weather.
How to dry linden
The collected inflorescences are laid out in a thin layer (no more than 3 cm) on paper or burlap, dried under sheds and in attics, in dryers and ovens. At the same time, the air temperature must be maintained at the level of 40-45 degrees. During drying, which takes an average of 2-3 days, you need to stir up the flowers so that they do not rot and dry on all sides. All this will keep the healing essential oil in the inflorescences, which gives them aroma and stickiness.
Flower stalks are properly dried when they become brittle, turn yellowish and have almost lost their pleasant scent.
Do not dry linden in the sun, because under direct sunbeams she becomes discolored and loses her medicinal properties. 10 kg of raw flowers give 3 kg of dry raw materials.
How to properly store linden
It is better to fold the dried raw materials into paper bags: they provide good access air. You can also use ceramic pots or linen bags - this is how our grandmothers kept herbs. But glass and plastic containers are not suitable for this purpose: in such dishes, pollen fades and loses its healing effect. Proper storage allows you to save the beneficial properties of lime blossom for 2 years.
Now you know how to collect, dry and store medicinal lime flowers, and you can do it yourself in the summer. Linden blossom is sold in a pharmacy, but it is much more pleasant to harvest it with your own hands.
