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How to properly dry hawthorn at home
Hawthorn fruits strengthen health and restore strength. It is good to use such natural resources all year round. But what to do in winter when there is no access to fresh berries? Of course, prepare them in advance. In this article, we will show you how to properly dry hawthorn to preserve its healing properties.
How to dry a hawthorn at home?
How to dry hawthorn at home
In addition to fruits, flowers and leaves of the plant are used for medicinal purposes. They can also be dried for long storage. This can be done effortlessly using the following methods:
- electric dryer: if you have a special device, you can spend a minimum of time and effort. The washed and dried berries should be laid out in the bowls of the dryer, set the temperature to 50 degrees and keep the hawthorn there until cooking. The desired state of the berries can be determined by pressing the berry: no juice – everything is ready;
- oven: put one layer of berries or other raw materials on a baking sheet, set the temperature to about 60 degrees and keep the product until completely dry with the door ajar;
- airfryer: the ingredient is laid out in a special grid, the “drying” mode is set, the fan speed is chosen medium;
- air: a thin layer of hawthorn is placed in a container or on a tray and left in a ventilated room (or put outside during the day), stirring occasionally.
It is best to store berries and so on in bags made of cloth or paper and do not allow contact with moisture. Under the right conditions, the product will last for two years (fruits) or a year (flowers, leaves).
How to dry hawthorn with full preservation of useful properties: tips
Experienced herbalists advise:
- you need to pick berries on sunny warm days;
- it is advisable to harvest the fruits before frost, best of all in September;
- flowers are harvested at the very beginning of June, while only those that have fully blossomed should be plucked;
- leaves begin to cut at the end of May and finish before July;
- berries must be washed under a stream of water;
- the stalks are removed from them, the spoiled and unripe are thrown away;
- leaves should be taken only young, without damage;
- remember that moisture is extremely harmful to the inflorescences.
If hawthorn root is required, it is harvested at the end of autumn, dried using the same methods.
These are the simple ways to harvest useful hawthorns for the winter. Using them, you will not spend a lot of effort, but you will provide yourself with a supply of vitamins and useful microelements.
In the next article: how to dry honey mushrooms