How to ferment currant leaves?

From the leaves of currant can make aromatic, tasty and very nutritious tea.To be able to enjoy this drink in winter, many dried leaves, but tea in this case does not give the very taste and smell. That is why the best option for harvesting will be the fermentation of leaves.

All owners of their personal plots know that currant leaves are very useful for the health of children and adults, they are:

• improve the condition of kidney pathologies;
• normalizes the functioning of the urinary organs;
• promote healing for colds;
• improve the process of digestion;
• relieve insomnia;
• strengthen the immune system;
• gently remove manifestations of toxemia.

Currant leaf tea is recommended for expectant mothers with throat, bronchus and lung diseases when all other drugs are contraindicated.

Fermentation is a process in which insoluble tissues of leaf plates are converted to soluble so that they are easily absorbed by the body. Fermentation is an indispensable part of the tea tradition, thanks to which red, yellow and black teas can be obtained. If you simply brew collected and dried herbs, you get no more than 15% of the healing substances they contain. Fermentation is a kind of self-digestion of the product, oxidation here goes without oxygen access due to its own microorganisms and enzymes. As a result, all complex proteins and starches are converted into simplified water-soluble substances.

This is a complex and time-consuming process, during which the whole structure of the leaf should be destroyed to extract the juice. This is the so-called fermentation of the material, on the correctness of which depends the final color, taste, smell of tea and the content of micronutrients in it. In the process of fermentation, bacteria are involved, which are located in significant quantities on the surface of the plant, they trigger chemical reactions that look like this:

• leaf tissues are destroyed;
• juice extraction begins;
• under high temperature, the processes of fermentation and fermentation are started;
• leaves and young shoots are fermented in their juice;
• raw material becomes dark and acquires a rich berry smell.

Everyone knows that the leaves on young bushes of green currant are green until the cold. However, this does not mean at all that raw materials for fermentation can be prepared any day and month. The period of active flowering is considered the most appropriate period for harvesting - it is during this period that the maximum number of vitamins and minerals accumulates in the green parts of the shrub. In central Russia flowering begins in the last decade of May. In the southern regions, this period comes a little earlier, and in Siberia and the Urals - later.

In any case, only flowers will appear on the bushes - you should immediately collect the right amount of leaves. It is advisable to do this work from 10 to 12 hours, at this time there is still no scorching sun, but at the same time there are no remains of morning dew. Preparation of raw materials is best done in dry weather, since excessive moisture interferes with proper fermentation and often leads to the formation of fungus and mold. Many experienced gardeners advise harvesting leaves for fermentation, focusing on the Lunar Calendar. A suitable period is considered to be a growing moon, and it is optimal to collect it immediately after a new moon.

Only whole leaves are suitable for gathering without external damages and signs of culture diseases; only apical shoots are collected. Rinse the leaves should not be, as this together with water will wash off all the bacteria that are needed for fermentation.

The first stage of fermentation is withering leaves, the whole process depends on the correctness of its implementation. At this stage, excess moisture is removed from the leaves, but all the essential oils and aromatic substances remain unchanged. Cooked leaves are laid out on a canvas cotton fabric with a width of not more than 5 cm. Keep in mind that synthetics is not suitable as a substrate, because the raw material will absorb all toxic substances from the canvas.

From time to time, the stocked raw material should be agitated to ensure that the drying is uniform. Keep in mind that the leaves should never dry out, so they should not be dried on a sunny window or in a windy place. As a rule, the process lasts about 12 hours. On a warm dry day, this happens a little faster, on a rainy day, on the contrary, a little longer.

Competently dried leaves, as a rule, are easily twisted and give a rather tasty and fragrant drink. After all procedures, the remaining water should remain at 60-65%. It is very simple to make sure that if you lightly press the sheet plate, its main vein does not crunch, therefore, drying has gone right, but if you notice a crunch, you should continue wilting for another 2-3 hours. There is another option to check: the leaves should be firmly squeezed into a tight lump, if it does not break up, therefore, the material is ready for further fermentation.

At the next stage, it is necessary to achieve the selection of juice, because it contains tannin, which is responsible for fermentation. If the juice is too small, the taste of the tea will be significantly degraded.

Destroy the integrity of the leaves can be three main methods.

• Twisting arms. To do this, take about a dozen dried leaves and with effort roll them between the palms, and the leaf plates should darken and moisten. At the exit, so-called rolls are obtained, which should then be cut into small pieces to get tea.
• Kneading in tank. Such manipulations can be compared with kneading dough. Raw materials are spread in a bowl and squeezed vigorously for half an hour, while the lumps formed should be loosened from time to time, and the crumpled leaves should be straightened.
• Processing in the meat grinder. This is the easiest way, as the declared raw materials simply scroll through a meat grinder. The result is a concentrated currant tea in granules. For work, you can use both manual and electric meat grinder.

At the final stage, the fermentation of raw materials is carried out - it determines the taste, color and smell of the drink. To do this, processed by one of the above methods, the leaves are placed in a plastic or enameled container with a thickness of 10-15 cm, and then placed under pressure. The bowl is wrapped with a wet cloth with a cloth, which should be moistened as it dries.

It is noticed that the more raw materials are cooked, the faster the fermentation process. As a rule, fermentation takes 5 hours at 22-25 degrees, but in some cases more time is required. The signal to readiness is the sharp smell of the plant - when it appears fermentation should be stopped.

Prepared currant leaves should be dried, and it should be done so that they do not lose their nutritional properties.Most often, the billet is laid out in an even thin layer on a baking sheet and placed in an oven preheated to 100 degrees for an hour. The oven door should be kept open, and after the specified time, the heating temperature is halved and, with occasional stirring, dried for about 40 minutes. If the leaves begin to break when pressed, then the oven can be turned off. The leaves are moved to the fabric bag and sent to the drying board in natural conditions (on the street).

Currant leaves, in comparison with others, used for fermentation, have a number of features:

• they are quite dry, even in rainy weather;
• the leaves are difficult to ferment and produce little juice, and if you scroll through them in a meat grinder, then after drying, sometimes not granules, but dust.

Experienced gardeners are advised to freeze such raw materials before fermentation. To do this, shoots and leaves should be washed, put in a plastic bag and placed in the freezer for several hours. After defrosting, such blanks twist very quickly and do not emit moisture, and the smell is amplified several times. Frost in this case is used instead of withering, and not after him.

This video clearly shows the process of fermentation of currant leaves.