Dried Rose Leaf Tea


Another good tea substitute can be made with wild rose leaves.  Being as I have made Wild Rose Petal Conserve this evening, it seemed a pity not to make use of the leaves, so it was two items for one basically. Not bad - if not good on its own may well be good blended with china tea.

To dry wild rose leaves:

Season late Spring to late Summer:

Pick the young leaves from the tips of the stems of any variety of wild rose.
Spread the leaves in layers on trays and leave in a warm place to dry.

After 3 or 4 days when the leaves are quite dry and crisp put them through a parsley mill and store in air-tight jars away from the light.



To use as a tea

Put two teaspoons of the dried leaves in a jug and pour on 1/2 pint boiling water and infuse for 10 minutes.  Strain into a cup and drink hot or warm or iced with a sprig of mint or a slice of lemon.  This is a very green tasting tea.  I am not keen on commercial bought tea, but I quite liked this.  If you find this too green you can always add loose leaf commercial tea to add to it if you want.  I also dried some very tiny wild rose buds and have added these whole to the jar with the "tea" in just to make it look aesthetically more pleasing on a visual basis. You can also add dried rose petals too it as well.

The Tea steeping in boiling water and strained through an old fashioned tea strainer




Comments

  1. Hi Patty,
    Thanks for posting this. I was wondering if this is for any kind of rose--for example from my own back yard? Or are there some roses you cannot do this with?

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  2. Hi Anonymous

    I used the wild rose as it is collected from the hedgerows and not anywhere where they are sprayed. I have used rose petals from the garden and the leaves, covered in chocolate to make cake decorations although I had not thought to use the leaves in this way. The rose leaves from the garden are likely to be bigger and could well be tougher as a result; also if you spray your roses - I would not use them at all for edible recipes. However if you do not spray your roses it might we worth the experiment as generally roses come under the heading of edible although I am by no means an expert.

    Pattypan

    x

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