Chamomile is one of my must have herbs in the tea garden. It adds beautiful, cheery little blossoms to the garden and makes a delicious comforting tea. Here's how to harvest chamomile throughout the growing season.
Course: gardening
Keyword: chamomile, fresh herbs, herbal tea
Author: Getty Stewart
Ingredients
1patchchamomile flowers
Instructions
When picking the flowers, use your fingers as a comb to get just the flower head.
With your finger-comb in place, simply pluck the flower head off the stem while using your other hand to hold the stem of the plant. (You don't want to yank on the whole plant, just the flower head).
Or, pinch off each flower head using your forefinger and thumb just underneath the flower head.
Gather all the blossoms you can (the plant is happy to give up the flowers and keep growing!). You'll have to come back several times over the summer to collect blossoms when they're at full bloom.
Video
Notes
Unlike many other herbs, when harvesting chamomile, it is ONLY the blossoms you want to collect, not the stems, leaves or roots. The green stems and leaves can lead to a bitter flavour, so just harvest the blossoms.