Fireweed angustifolia, Koporye tea or fireweed is a honey plant belonging to the fireweed family. Representatives of this species are distributed in all regions of the Northern Hemisphere with a temperate climate. Willow-herb prefers sandy or loamy areas and grows in clearings, clearings of mixed and coniferous forests, on fires and drained peat bogs, in thickets of bushes and on the banks of reservoirs. Refers to the number of plants that are the first to appear in deserted areas.

Willow-herb has an erect stem up to one and a half meters long, sharp linear-lanceolate leaves and lilac or light pink flowers collected in a long apical raceme. On the thick and creeping roots of the plant there is a huge number of adventitious buds that promote vegetative propagation.

Procedure for collecting fireweed

Most often, the leaves of fireweed are used for medicinal purposes, less often its inflorescences and roots. The seeds of the plant do not have medicinal properties, so they are collected only for the purpose of sowing the plant in certain areas.

Ivan tea roots are harvested in April-May or September after the end of the flowering period. The rhizome of the plant is dug up, the adhering soil is shaken off and washed thoroughly.

The leaves and inflorescences of fireweed are harvested during the flowering period, that is, from the end of June to the beginning of September. Medicinal raw materials are collected in the morning after the dew has completely dried. In this case, the growing stem is carefully squeezed between the fingers and the leaves and flowers are torn off with a sharp movement from top to bottom.

During the collection process, the harvester must carefully ensure that insects and their larvae (especially forest bugs), ripe fireweed pods or the fluff contained in them do not get into the medicinal raw materials. Unsuitable for harvesting are plants that are too dusty, polluted, diseased or drying out, growing along busy roads, on the territory of industrial enterprises, near farms, cattle burial grounds or landfills.

How to properly dry fireweed

The roots, flowers and leaves of fireweed, intended for the preparation of medicinal infusions and decoctions, are dried in well-ventilated areas protected from sunlight, spread in a thin layer on canvas or paper. If necessary, medicinal raw materials can be prepared in an oven, dryer or oven at a temperature not exceeding 60 degrees.

Preparation of fermented Koporye tea

In most cases, fireweed leaves are used to make a special drink - fermented Koporye tea. In such situations, the cooking process includes two successive stages:

• fermentation of prepared raw materials;
• drying leaves.

In order to start the process of fermentation of plant materials, it is necessary:

1. thoroughly rinse the collected leaves with cold water and dry them for 3 hours in a place protected from sunlight;
2. Gently rub the withered leaves in your palms, achieve the destruction of the structural cells of the plant and saturate the medicinal raw material with cell juice;
3. tightly fill any glass container with ground leaves, cover it with cling film and place for 20 hours in a darkened room with a temperature of about 24 degrees.

After the procedure is completed, the leaves change color from dark green to light brown, and the smell changes from a pronounced herbal to a delicate fruity one. It should be noted that there are other methods for fermenting fireweed, but the described scheme is the simplest and most accessible for implementation at home.

The resulting vegetable mixture is loosened, spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet and dried in the oven or in the cooking chamber of a Russian oven at a temperature of about 100 degrees. In order to avoid drying out the raw materials in the oven, open the door slightly and place ceramic tiles or red bricks under the baking sheet. During the drying process, Koporye tea is constantly stirred, preventing the leaves from burning. On average, drying the plant mass takes about an hour.

The finished tea, which has a light brown or brown color and a pleasant fruity aroma, is packaged in a hermetically sealed food container that does not have any foreign odors, and is kept for a month at room temperature. During this time, the plant material undergoes secondary dry fermentation.

Recently, more and more people are returning to their roots and native Russian traditions are becoming more and more popular. For example, make homemade bread kvass or drink aromatic Russian tea from Ivan-tea. We wrote about that earlier, now let’s talk about how to collect, dry and brew Ivan tea so that it is not only tasty, but also healthy.

What does Ivan-tea look like and where does it grow?

Fireweed or fireweed is a perennial herbaceous plant reaching a height of 50-200 cm. Easily recognizable narrow leaves and pink flowers are familiar to many. Lush red-pink glades of Ivan tea can be found almost everywhere: in dry sandy places in light forests, often in clearings and forest edges, along railway embankments and ditches, near crops, near water, on damp soil. The plant blooms from June to September.

Interesting facts about Ivan tea:
Tea has been drunk in Rus' for a long time, but it was prepared from the local herb Ivan-tea or angustifolia fireweed. This herbal tea, distinguished by its delicate aroma and pleasant taste, was supplied to the imperial table and even exported abroad. A few more names - Koporye tea, Virgin Mary herb, boron potion, skrypnik.

Useful properties of Ivan tea

Fireweed was valued in Rus' not only for the taste of the drink made from it, but also for the benefits that Ivan tea brings. A balanced combination of vitamins and microelements has a beneficial effect on the body. The beneficial properties of Ivan tea have been known for a long time, many of them have been confirmed by modern medicine.

• Infusions and decoctions of Ivan tea leaves have strong anti-inflammatory properties. Fireweed has the highest coefficient of anti-inflammatory action among the studied plants of the domestic flora.
• The enveloping properties of fireweed are also noted. Therefore, folk herbalists and modern herbalists use fireweed tea in the treatment of peptic ulcers and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
• The ability of angustifolia fireweed to suppress the reproduction of the herpes simplex virus in tissue cultures has been established.
• Chanerol, obtained from fireweed, has an antitumor effect. It is not for nothing that in Rus' healers used Ivan tea in the treatment of various types of malignant tumors.
• Ivan tea has a calming effect on the central nervous system and is very effective in treating neuroses. Along with this, decoctions of angustifolia fireweed enhance the effect of sedatives and hypnotics and have an anticonvulsant effect. It is a mood modulator, reduces aggressiveness, and is a stress protector. Helps with headaches and insomnia.
• Ivan tea has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart, thanks to the hyperoside found in plant materials.
• Preparations of fireweed angustifolia in the form of an infusion are used in the treatment of various types of eczema, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and other skin diseases.

The beneficial properties of Ivan tea do not end there.

Benefits of Ivan tea

Ivan tea is one of the most honey-bearing plants. That is why beekeepers go with their hives to fireweed meadows. Fireweed honey is of high quality, has a pleasant taste and is valued for its beneficial properties. In Rus', fresh leaves of fireweed were eaten as salad leaves, and the rhizome and stems of fireweed were boiled and served as a side dish. Crushed roots of Ivan tea were added to flour and porridge to sweeten and add satiety. A drink made from roasted crushed fireweed roots is very reminiscent of coffee. Fireweed fluff also brought benefits: they were used to stuff blankets, pillows and even mattresses. A calm and deep sleep on such bedding was ensured.

How to collect Ivan tea

Ivan tea is collected from July - during the flowering period. The weather for collecting Ivan tea should be dry, and the collection itself should be done in the morning. Choose healthy plants and collect a little from each so as not to harm the plant. Some also recommend harvesting the tops of young plants in May. It is believed that cropped shoots will begin to bush, and by the beginning of flowering, there will be much more leaves on the plants than usual.

How to prepare Ivan tea

The collected raw materials should be processed according to all the rules so that the beneficial properties of Ivan tea are preserved and fully revealed, and this is a serious process that requires attention and time. So:

• Withering:
  • Leaves of fireweed are scattered in a layer no thicker than 5 centimeters per day or day so that they become slightly sluggish, do not forget to mix the layers so that the leaves become evenly wilted. Avoid direct sunlight.
• Twisting:
  • dried fireweed leaves are rolled between the palms of the hands until they darken from the released juice.
• Fermentation:
  • The rolled leaves are placed in a layer of 5 centimeters in an enamel or glass container, covered with a damp cloth and placed in a warm place (24-27 C) for 6-12 hours. The higher the temperature, the faster the fermentation process goes. The end of the fermentation process can be determined by the change in smell to a rich floral-fruity one.
• Drying:
  • to dry, the fermented leaves of Ivan tea are finely chopped, spread on baking sheets covered with parchment in a layer of 1-1.5 centimeters and dried at a temperature of 100 C for about an hour. If you don't have an oven, you can dry it in the sun.
• Storage:
  • It is important to store prepared Ivan tea in tight packaging: glass jars with lids. Ivan tea matures for about a month and in the future only increases its taste and aroma. It is stored for about two years.
• Brewing:
  • Rinse the kettle with boiling water and add 2-3 teaspoons of dried Ivan tea to 0.5 liters of water; you can add a little dried Ivan tea flowers to the dry leaves. Pour boiling water over one third of the kettle, wait 5 minutes and add boiling water until it is full. It is better to leave for about 10 minutes. The proportions of the brew to water (purified or spring water) can be changed to taste. By the way, without compromising the taste, benefits and aroma, boiling water can be added to the tea leaves several times.

Ivan-tea (fireweed), contraindications

There are no contraindications as such for fireweed. Of course, signs of individual intolerance may appear. Long-term drinking of tea may cause stomach upset in some people.

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Chamerion, fireweed, weeping - this is all fireweed - a herb of the fireweed family, which is one of the most useful plants that grow in Russia.

Time to collect fireweed

It is necessary to collect fireweed tea during its flowering period, but before the entire cluster of flowers has completely blossomed. Because at the end of summer, beans ripen on the lower branches of the plant, which contain unpleasant fluff, which is not used in harvesting.

Traditionally, the collection of this plant begins in the last weeks of June and lasts until autumn. In particular, in the south of Russia this happens at the end of June, in the central part - at the beginning of July, at the end of July - beginning of August - in the northern regions.

It should be noted that it is important to distinguish between fireweed and other representatives of the fireweed family.

Ivan-tea is a plant with bright pink flowers, collected in brushes, from 70 cm to 2 m in height. It grows exclusively in open areas - clearings, clearings, edges, and sometimes inhabits empty places after a fire or logging, slopes of railway embankments. This grass does not tolerate high humidity.

And hairy fireweed and forest fireweed cannot be used for medicinal purposes. It is not difficult to distinguish them: they are smaller than fireweed, up to 15 cm high, and their flowers are not pink, but red-purple in color, and grow in damp places. Small-flowered fireweed with small purple flowers is also used for medicinal purposes.

Leaves and flowers of fireweed should be collected in the morning, in dry weather. The entire plant is collected. To do this, its stem is cut or broken closer to the ground.

Healing properties of fireweed

For medicinal purposes, fireweed is used as a general tonic, which, thanks to its enveloping and astringent effect, helps improve digestion and helps with gastritis, colitis and ulcers.

In addition, fireweed tea has strong anti-inflammatory properties, so it is used to treat female and male genital diseases, colds and acute respiratory viral infections. True, in the latter case, you should start treatment as soon as possible after the onset of symptoms, because if you start treating it in the later stages of the disease, the effect may be the opposite.

It is also important to add that, like valerian officinalis, fireweed tea has a mild calming and hypnotic effect. By the way, about 20 years ago the effective anti-cancer drug Hanerol was obtained from the inflorescences of fireweed. Alas, today it is not produced in any country in the world. But until now, most experts prescribe cancer patients to use fireweed tea. However, we must not forget that such treatment should be carried out exclusively under the supervision of a doctor!