How to dry chamomile at home?

Chamomile is familiar to everyone since childhood.It can be seen in the fields, along the roads, on the slopes. This plant has a wide range of uses. It is unique in that its inflorescences are used in medicine, cosmetology, tea, infusions, lotions, lotions, tonics are made of them. Dried grass can be purchased at the pharmacy, and you can do self-collection and storage of such a miracle plant.

A lot of materials have been collected about the benefits of chamomile, more than one study has been conducted, a huge number of scientific articles have been published. This plant contains vitamins, essential oils, beneficial trace elements and acids. Due to the content of flavonoids, the flower has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. The utility of chamomile makes it possible to apply it in the following cases:

• Treat colds. Chamomile contains essential oil, in which many useful trace elements. They kill pathogens, healing the body and helping to get up faster.

• Eye pain relief. Actually for office workers who spend all day around the computer. After such a load, the eyes get tired, there are unpleasant feelings, which are often accompanied by pain. Chamomile insist in boiling water, cooled and applied to the eyes in the form of a compress.
• Flatulence. An unpleasant phenomenon that accompanies a person who has problems with digestion. To get rid of gas, doctors recommend drinking tea three times a day.
• Liver colic are treated with a warm enema from the infusion of flowers.
• Conjunctivitis symptoms Chamomile shot. A warm tincture of flowers washed eyes several times a day.

• Chamomile is useful for women's health. When irritation of the external genital organs, the infusion copes with redness and itching, heals the skin and disinfects.
• Cosmetic properties help women look fresh and young every day. Ice chamomile infusion has a beneficial effect on the skin of the face: a massage with an ice cube tones, refreshes, moisturizes. Inflammatory processes are blocked, rashes are prevented.
• Chamomile in tandem with sea salt as a scrub cleanses the skin, making it velvety and elastic.

• Plant performs role sedative drug - relieves hyperexcitability, improves sleep, fights anxiety.
• Daisy also choleretic agentIt is taken for liver and kidney diseases.
• With peptic ulcer Healing infusion is widely used. He, getting into the stomach and washing its walls, gradually leads to recovery.

• Medicine has long been known anthelmintic properties annual, its infusion effectively removes parasites from the body.
• Herbal infusion fights bad breath, killing germs, reduces bleeding gums, prevents their inflammation.
• When treating hair appreciate the properties of chamomile. Experts advise that after washing your head, rinse the hair with broth, rubbing the infusion into the roots. This will add shine to the curls, accelerate their growth, revive the appearance.

Chamomile is good because there are almost no contraindications to use. People who are prone to allergies, and pregnant, it is better to consult a doctor.

Chamomile is a medicinal plant that can work in several directions: relax the nervous system, bring restlessness to a state of rest, eliminate pain in the head, relieve bloating, improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, help care for the skin.

Doctors and beauticians when collecting chamomile for drying are advised to follow a few tips:

• Inflorescences gather. They are the storehouse of all useful substances and valuable essential oil.
• Chamomile bloom is the best time for its preparation. For daisies, connoisseurs of folk remedies go from the end of May, when summer warm weather sets in, and until early September, with clear signs of the onset of autumn. June is the best time to collect grass.The closer to the fall, the less useful elements become in inflorescences.
• Chamomile harvested in dry warm weather. After rain and dew, you should not cut the plants.

• Inflorescences are cut with stationery scissors or a device for picking berries. Experts in the field of botany forbid tearing a plant from its roots, cutting off all the flowers. Following these rules will help plants to multiply in the future.
• In the collection should get only chamomile, the remaining plants and impurities immediately need to sift.
• The collected mass is placed in baskets or boxes, put neatly, without crushing.
• It is forbidden to collect in the vicinity of roads, railways, close to manufacturing plants, chemical warehouses, farms, cemeteries, landfills.

Drying pharmaceutical chamomile may seem like a simple affair that does not require special knowledge and skills. This is absolutely not true.

The purpose of drying flowers - the rapid cessation of all biological and chemical processes in the plant. After collecting the inflorescences should not be stored for a long time, it is better to immediately go to the dryer, otherwise they will darken and fade.

You must adhere to the following algorithm:

• The choice of location. Chamomile is dried in the open air under a canopy, preventing sun from entering. Avoid wind and insects. Do not dry in electric dryers, ovens, stoves. Heat destroys healing properties.
• On a soft, clean fabric, chamomile is placed in a thin layer, and the necessary distance between the flowers for air circulation is left. From above flowers are covered with gauze.
• Properly dried flowers will allow the optimum temperature from 30 to 40 degrees.
• For even drying chamomile several times a day should be mixed.
• If the weather and conditions do not allow drying outside, you can do the procedure at home, for example, on the mezzanine or in the room. At home, the plant is dried in the form of beams, hung along the wall away from heating appliances and windows. Walls should not be covered with paint and other repair chemical compounds.
• Drying takes about a week. This time will allow the plant to properly dry without losing its appearance and usefulness.

For this purpose, use another available method of drying.

Sand is poured into a dry box. Chamomile is laid bud down, gently sprinkled on top of the sand. After the box is left in the ventilated room for 1 - 3 weeks. After drying, chamomile buds look like paper flowers, the petals do not break. The resulting herbarium is suitable for crafts - compositions, panels, bouquets.

Chamomile storage affects its healing properties. After drying, it must be carefully selected and stored for storage for the winter.

There are three ways to store dried flowers.

1. Carton boxes. Boxes must be clean, free of odors, drawings and stickers. After placing plants there, the boxes are carefully packed.
2. Glass jars. Banks must be thoroughly washed, dried, put there chamomile, not priminaya flowers, neck tie around with a clean and dry cloth.
3. Bags from natural fabric. The fabric should be clean and dry, the size is chosen so that it fits no more than 300 grams of chamomile.

Shelf life - no more than a year, after the loss of healing properties.

How to prepare chamomile for the winter, see the video below.