Category: Dehydrating

How to Dry Chamomile Flowers for Tea

Posted on by craig

This year in the garden has seen us expand into other areas beyond simply preserving vegetables and fruit. We’ve been working on proteins with some success—we got a ton of black beans but next to no mushrooms. But the other focus this year was juices and other drinks.

So far this year, we’ve done:

We’ve also done a handful of other things like start up a half dozen different types of wine, and in the past I’ve made a Bloody Mary mix for drinking too.

But of all of these, the exciting new project was chamomile.

Enjoying a calming cup

Chamomile is one of my favourite teas. I have to be careful about how much caffeine I consume because it can cause stomach issues, and that’s always presented a problem. Decaf coffee is still somewhat caffeinated, same with decaf tea, so they are both no-go when I need to limit caffeine, and most caffeine-free herbal teas just don’t appeal to me.

Strangely, chamomile has always been an exception. When I tried my first cup, I immediately fell in love with the flavour.

My husband likes to end each night with a mug of Sleepytime tea. I took a look at the ingredient list of the brand we buy and the first two items were mint and chamomile, so he now drinks a homemade variation on Sleepytime that comes right from the garden patch at the side of our house.

I find homegrown chamomile considerably stronger than storebought. Perhaps it’s because it’s fresher or because it’s been jostled around less, but whatever the reason, I have to be careful when I drink it because on the right day it can put me out like a light.

Growing chamomile

We had tried to grow chamomile from seed a few times but really gotten nowhere with it. We generally don’t have luck with starting seeds indoors, and then rarely have luck with direct planting flower seeds in the garden.

This past spring, though, I found chamomile at a local greenhouse and snapped up three seedlings.

Once they established in our garden, they were prolific. They grew to about knee height and were completely decked out with little white flowers with yellow centres. They seem to be a pretty easy-to-care-for plant; we water daily when it’s hot and dry and every other day when it’s a little milder out, and rarely did these plants look droopy.

Harvesting chamomile

When harvesting chamomile, you want the flower heads and not much else. While that’s a relatively easy task, it becomes difficult when you’re dealing with dozens or hundreds of flowers. And with chamomile, the more you harvest, the more it grows, so you do want to harvest as much as you can.

I got in the habit of going out every Saturday and picking everything that looked like a decent size. I tried different methods—scissors (way too laborious and unnecessary), plucking them individually (best way, but at a flower at a time it takes a long time), and eventually settled on my preferred method. If I “rake” my fingers through the flower and then gently press my fingers together, locking the flowers in my hand and then gently pull up, the stems snapped and the flowers remained in my hand. I would get some stem attached to the flowers still, but usually not much. If it was a long stem, I’d trim it off, but if it was shorter I’d just leave it.

Drying chamomile

Drying chamomile is particularly easy. You just lay the flowers out in a tray or dish and let it sit for seven to ten days.

My routine was to harvest on a Saturday and put them all in a baking dish and leave it on the counter. The next Saturday I’d harvest a new batch and fill a second dish, moving the first dish to the right, so I could keep track of which was newest and which was oldest. And on the third Saturday, I’d empty that first dish of dried flowers into an airtight jar and reuse that dish for that day’s harvest.

Letting them dry is a hands-off activity. Sometimes if the dish was particularly full, I’d shake it or stir it once or twice a day to ensure that air was circulating past all the flowers.

Making tea from dried chamomile

A good rule of thumb is to use a teaspoon of dried flowers for a cup of tea, adding more or less based on your preferences.

You can use a tea infuser for this. We also have a Brewt (identical to this), which is a handy device for looseleaf tea, and T-Sac teabags meant for looseleaf tea—both of these work great too.

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5 from 1 vote

How to Dry Chamomile Flowers for Tea

If you have a flowering chamomile plant, harvesting and drying the flowers is incredibly easy and yields a delicious and calming mug of chamomile tea.
Prep Time10 minutes
Course: Beverage
Keyword: Chamomile Tea

Equipment

  • Cookie sheet or baking dish

Materials

  • Chamomile Flowers

Instructions

  • Harvest chamomile flower heads.
  • Lay out flower heads on a cookie sheet or a baking dish in a thin layer. Place in a cool, dry spot.
  • Let sit for 7-10 days to fully dry.
  • Store dried flowers in an airtight container.
  • To enjoy, steep 1 teaspoon of flowers per cup of tea.

How to Make Dandelion Coffee

Posted on by craig

Several years ago, a strange plant appeared in our garden.

We have a habit of letting these things grow, to see what nature has inadvertently given us. That strange plant ended up being wild mustard. With a little bit of googling, I learned how to harvest mustard seeds and then how to make my own mustard.

In the years since, we learned that wild mustard is an noxious weed in the province of Manitoba (because it will invade canola crops), so we acquired seeds for a different variety of mustard and now grow that. Mustard is an annual crop for us and friends and family look forward to my homemade mustard.

Since then, I’ve always been on the lookout for other edible plants in the garden, especially ones that we haven’t planted ourselves.

That’s when I focussed on the dandelions.

Dandelion Uses

Dandelion has several different uses and every part of the plant is edible. And while there are multiple varieties of dandelion, they are all safely edible, and there are no dangerous look-alike plants, so you can be confident in using the dandelions in your yard without giving it too much thought.

The uses of dandelion are surprisingly extensive. They include:

  • Dandelion wine
    • This is really good and I make a big batch every year
  • Dandelion jelly, sometimes known as “poor man’s honey”
  • Dandelion leaf pesto
  • Roasted dandelion roots
  • Medicinal salves

The list really does go on. I recently came across a recipe for “dandelion root fries”.

This year I tackled one I’ve been eyeing for a while — dandelion root coffee.

I’ve had dandelion root coffee a few times before, which is sometimes marketed as dandelion root tea. It has a surprisingly robust flavour that is quite similar to coffee. Sometimes it seems to have a hint of mocha flavour too. As someone that can’t have much coffee (I react poorly to it if I consistently have too much), I’m always on the lookout for good-tasting alternatives — and this is it!

Dandelion Root Coffee

The “how to” is surprisingly simple.

You dig up roots.

You wash them, dry them, and trim blemishes and straggly bits off. And chop them into small pieces.

You roast them. You can do them in the oven at 400 F for about 30-45 minutes; put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and give it a shake every 5-8 minutes. Alternatively, I used the air fryer with the same method — 400 F for 30-45 minutes, give it a shake every 5-8 minutes. The only difference is I lined the air fryer basket with foil instead of parchment paper.

Let it cool completely. Then store in a cool, dry place, in an airtight container.

To make coffee, you can either use the small pieces and steep them like tea, or you can grind them and use them in a French press, or any other coffee-making appliance. I used the same amount of ground roots as I do coffee.

The result? Delicious.

Even better — it costs nothing and it’s caffeine-free.

Dandelion Root Coffee

When roasted and ground, dandelion roots make a very tasty coffee substitute, with a full-bodied flavour and just a hint of mocha.
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Drinks
Cuisine Coffee

Equipment

  • Oven or Air Fryer

Ingredients
  

  • Dandelion Roots

Instructions
 

  • Wash dirt off dandelion roots and trim off any blemished areas or thin strands.
  • Chop roots into equal-sized small pieces.
  • Roast at 400° F for 30-45 minutes. This can be done on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in the oven or in an air fryer lined with foil. Check every 5–8 minutes, shaking each time. If some roots are roasted and dried before others, they can be removed.
  • Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
  • To make dandelion coffee:
    Roasted dandelion roots can be used in chunks or ground with a coffee grinder. If using chunks, use them like tea, steeping until desired taste is achieved. If using ground roots, use like ground coffee in a French press or other coffee maker, using similar number of scoops.
Keyword coffee alternatives, dandelion root coffee, dandelions

Two Ways to Dry Hot Peppers (and What to Do With Them!)

Posted on by craig

In summer of 2022, I tried growing hot peppers for the first time. We had a few jalapeño pepper plants, half a dozen banana pepper plants, a Carolina Reaper plant, and a couple plants with what looked like Thai chilis. I figured we’d get a bumper crop of hot peppers, perfect for pickling and exploring other possibilities with.

But our peppers in 2022 were a dud.

We did have some success. We got two to three peppers per plant with the jalapeños and bananas, and a bunch of little Thai chilis, but we got no Carolina Reapers. I made a handful of jars of pickled peppers but it barely lasted half a year before they were gone.

When 2023 rolled around, we decided to triple our hot pepper plants so we’d get a decent amount to work with.

Well…I don’t know if it comes down to the specific varieties of plants or if it was just ideal weather conditions this year, but we got a massive harvest of hot peppers. Each plant—we had jalapeños, bananas, Scotch bonnets, and cayennes this year—produced dozens of peppers. We were up to our ears in hot peppers.

After making a couple dozen jars of pickled hot peppers, a batch of candied jalapeños, and two types of hot sauce, and giving a bunch away…we still had hot peppers coming in.

Pickled hot peppers
Candied jalapeños

I was at my wit’s end with hot peppers and wanted to just throw the rest in the compost, but my husband persuaded me to just try drying them so we can sprinkled hot pepper flakes on pizza and other things.

Thankfully, I listened to him.

I did some digging on the internet and found out about two methods of drying peppers and then two methods of processing them afterward. While it wasn’t super clear which method was ideal for which pepper, my guideline was this:

  • For peppers with thick walls, and thus lots of moisture, I went with the dehydrator to dry them quickly and fully, without the risk of things going bad. These peppers I ground into a powder that can be thrown into various recipes that need a kick. In my case, this included the jalapeños, bananas, and Scotch bonnets.
  • For peppers with thin walls, and thus not much moisture, I hang-dried them. These peppers were put in a food processor to turn into flakes for putting on pizzas and other dishes. In my case, this was with the cayennes.

Drying Peppers in a Dehydrator

With the bulk of peppers—the jalapeños, bananas, and Scotch bonnets—I chopped them up and threw them in the dehydrator at about 125 degrees Fahrenheit and just let them sit. The guide that came with my dehydrator said it would take about twelve to sixteen hours.

After twelve hours, they were certainly dehydrated, but I wanted them even drier. My goal was to grind them up into a powder so I wanted them as dry as I could get them. We left them in the dehydrator for three days.

At this point, they were so crispy that they easily broke if I touched them too hard. Perfect.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could try doing this in the oven if your oven is able to go that low. But I’m not sure if I’d want to leave my oven running for 2-3 days. Alternatively, some folks can get by with just turning on the light in the oven and letting that heat build up and dehydrate food. This may take longer than three days to get the desired crispiness, but it’s a lot less risky than leaving the oven on for three days, and won’t heat up the house as much.

Be aware that dehydrating hot peppers in a dehydrator—and presumably an oven—makes the house smell like hot peppers. This can make it hard to breathe if it’s strong or if anyone in your house has any sort of medical condition that can make breathing difficult. It’s best to do this in a well-ventilated space, perhaps by cracking open the kitchen windows to clear out the hot pepper fumes and bring in some fresh air.

Once the peppers were fully dry—and you can see how they’ve shrunk in size with all the moisture gone—I threw them all in a blender and let the blender do its magic. In a few minutes, I had an orangey powder that is nice and spicy. (You may want to crack open some windows when blending them because it gets a little intense.)

I like to use this in soups to give them a kick. It also works great if you’re making a Spanish or Mexican rice and want to add some heat. We’ve also sprinkled this directly on pizza for a bit of a zing.

Drying Peppers With the Sun

The easier, though much longer, way of dehydrating peppers is to hang them in a window and let the sun do its work. This can take a few weeks or a few months, depending on how sunny and warm it is.

To do this, start by cutting a slit along the length of each pepper. This allows the moisture to escape and prevent mildew. Next, thread the peppers together. All I had on me was twine, so I tied the stems of each pepper so they all hang together nicely. If you have some sturdy thread (perhaps fishing line) and a needle, you could easily string them together by poking the needle through the tops of the peppers.

I’d started by hanging them in the kitchen where it gets a lot of ambient light and there’s good air circulation, but I eventually moved them to my husband’s office window. It has a southern exposure so it gets lots of sunlight, and it’s directly above an air duct, so it would get lots of ventilation from the air conditioning and then the furnace as we shift into fall.

Though there’s only one string in this photo, I eventually ended up with five strings of peppers. The nice aspect of the hang-dry method is you can just add strings of peppers whenever you’ve got them and just leave it all till they’re all ready; you don’t have to do everything at once like you would with a dehydrator.

After several weeks, I took them down. They were all nice and paper-crisp.

From there, I chopped off the tops and carefully looked over each pepper. I had one that had gone mouldy on the inside—the black and mottled colouring on the outside was my cue that something wasn’t right on the inside. The rest seemed to be fine.

So, into the food processor they went.

I chose a food processor over a blender because I wanted a different end product than the dehydrator-dehydrated peppers. For those ones, I wanted a hot pepper powder, so using a blender meant the peppers were continually pushed down to the blade and could be ground into a powder. For these cayennes, I wanted hot pepper flakes, like what you put on pizza, so I didn’t want the powder result of a blender. The food processor chops things wonderfully but since the blade doesn’t go right to the very bottom, it lets flakes sit there without being chopped to powder. (You may want to crack a window while processing because the smell can get a little intense.)

I had to do two batches because I had too much, and I couldn’t quite get the consistently-small flakes like you get in the store, but the end result looks gorgeous.

These will be great for sprinkling on pizza or any other dish that needs a colourful garnish that provides a kick.