When you have a large crop of chamomile from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve chamomile:
- Make a tea. Probably the best-known use of chamomile is a good, old-fashioned tea! For chamomile, this refers to an infusion. Herbal properties and taste are strongest in the flowers, but both are also present in the leaves if you want to include them as well. Here are a few ways to use your chamomile in a tea in addition to anything you might experiment with on your own:
- Alone or with honey
- With lavender and lemon balm as a gentle, classic blend that supports the nervous and digestive systems of adults and children alike
- With ginger as a GI- and throat-soothing blend
- With rose as an uplifting, relaxing nervine blend
- With fennel leaf and/or catmint as a sweet carminative combination
- As a fridge tea or a long-steeped room-temperature infusion, alone or with marshmallow and strawberry fruit and/or leaves. Cold and room-temperature brews bring out a sweeter flavor in the chamomile.
- Add it to salads. Chamomile flowers make a sunny, subtly tasty addition to salads. Specifically, you can use them as Decor in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Add it to baked goods like quickbreads, muffins, waffles, and pancakes, especially when paired with strawberries. This works well for seasonal eating since chamomile and strawberry seasons overlap in many regions.
- Make a tincture. The suggested herb:solvent ratio for a chamomile tincture is 1:5 in 40% alcohol.
- Make an herbal oil or lotion with it and apply it to your skin to utilize its cooling, anti-inflammatory, skin-soothing properties fully. Chamomile oil in particular can last for up to a year when stored properly, so this can be a great way to preserve your harvest as well.
- Dry it for later use. It will remain usable for a few years, but it will have the best taste and quality for the first year after drying is complete. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
Further Reading
Growing chamomile? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Chamomile is also featured in these articles:
- Quick Facts: Growing Chamomile
- How to Make a Hot Herbal Infusion
- How to Make a Cold Herbal Infusion
- The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad
- How to Preserve Your Harvest: Herbal Preparations
- How to Preserve Your Harvest: Drying and Dehydrating