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Fireweed Tea
This is how I make fireweed tea. There are other methods, but I like this one because it's easy and results in a black tea-like drink that smells a bit fruity.
Prep Time
30 mins
Fermenting Time
2 d
Total Time
30 mins
Servings: 2 cups of dried leaves
Course:
Drinks
Cuisine:
Russian
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh fireweed leaves
Instructions
- Use scissors to cut fireweed stalks just below the last pretty looking leaf; fireweed leaves can get scraggly lower on the plant. Strip the leaves from the stalks and set in a bowl.
- Grab a few leaves and using your palms, roll them vigorously together. You want to roll them into a fairly tight mass, bruising the leaves. Set the bruised rolls into a container that has a lid.
- When you have all the fireweed rolled and bruised, put the lid on the container and set out of direct sunlight at room temperature. Let this ferment for 2 to 3 days, moving the leaves around once or twice a day. You want an environment that's humid so the leaves don't dry out but not so humid they all mold. You will just need to watch it. Discard any moldy leaves.
- After the leaves are a very dark green, almost black -- two to three days -- lay them out in the sun to dry if you live in a hot, dry place. Other ways to stop the fermentation are to steam the leaves for about 5 minutes or roasting in a 350F oven for 20 minutes. I like the sun-dried and steamed methods. If you do steam, you'll then need to dehydrate the leaves anyway, so a steam bath followed by a hot period of sun drying makes the best tea.
- Store your tea in a Mason jar in a cool, dry place. I like to add a silica packet in there to prevent molding. The tea will keep up to 2 years this way.
- Brew as you would any normal loose leaf black tea.
Cup of Yum
Notes
- NOTE: Here is a fascinating article on experimenting with various fermented teas, including fireweed, from the Nordic Food Lab.