Drying Chamomile Flowers

I've had chamomile flowers blooming in my garden for several years now.

(I don't remember when or where I originally got the plant - but it reappears every year!)

This year I decided to harvest some to see how they taste as tea... I found an online website with instructions on how to dry chamomile flowers.

I picked the flowers off by hand. The stalks or stems are apparently bitter, so the flowers only should be picked.

Some looked as if they had almost finished blooming, so I left them on the stems. If I remove all the flowers, will the plant stop self-seeding, I wondered...

I put them in a closed paper bag (in case some unseen bugs were lurking in the flowers). Then I let them dry in the basement near the dehumidifier.

Apparently they can be frozen as well... Tea can be made from fresh flowers as well, according to another article on the same DIY herbal tea site.

So I guess I could make a cup from some of the flowers even before they are totally dry. I wonder how many flowers are needed to make a single cup of tea...