Raspberry Leaf Tea - Benefits and How to Make it and Preserve it!

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea - Rubus idaeus
Raspberry fruit is delicious and well know. Raspberry jam is probably my favourite jam. Red raspberry in latin is Rubus idaeus. In Latin Rubus means red, and idaeus is derived from Mount Ida on the island of Crete where raspberries are said to have originated. Red respberries are often cultivated, and you can find wild red raspberries throughout North America. There are also many other Rubus species that are cultivated and that grow wild. This video also demonstrates how to make a raspberry leaf tea and how to harvest and preserve the raspberry leaves.
Identification of Red Raspberry
Raspberries are a deciduous erect shrub usually with biennial growth. The leaves grow with 3 to 5 leaflets that are saw-toothed or double-toothed and pointed. The canes are covered in prickles.
Medicinal Uses for Raspberry Leaf Tea
Raspberry leaf tea is one of the only herbals that is recommended even throughout pregnancy and for children for things such as an upset tummy.
Raspberry leaf tea is high in Vitamin C, B, magnesium, calcium, iron and phosphorous. It is also a good source of potassium, selenium, thiamine, manganese and much more.
Raspberry leaf tea is known for uses related to women's health particularly related to menstruation, and child birth, and it has a lot of potential health benefits for everybody.
Raspberry leaf tea has been used to treat muscle cramps and nausea.
An infusion made from raspberry and red clover has been used for aiding both male and female fertility and conception. The infusion has also been used for treating mouth inflammation such as ulcers, cankers, bleeding gums and as a gargle for sore throats. The raspberry leaf infusion has also been used topically for sunburns and rashes.
Raspberry Leaf Tea for Women's Health
For menstruation a raspberry leaf tea or infusion has been used to relieve cramping and nausea. During pregnancy the tea or infusion has been used to help ease morning sickness, prevent miscarriage, and hemorrhaging.
Raspberry leaf tea is also used for pain relief and as a relaxant, and this is part of why it has been used related to childbirth. It is also said to speed recovery, help with cramping and blood loss and for returning the usterus to its pre-birth size.
Raspberry leaf tea is astringent which means it helps tighten tissue. This trait is one of the reasons that it is useful for all of these applications. Raspberry leaf tea is also loaded with nutrients, so it can be helpful for women who are breastfeeding to help with milk production.
How to Make Raspberry Leaf Tea and How to Dry and Store/Preserve Raspberry Leaves
The best leaves to use are young leaves that are new growth in the spring. Use fresh raspberry leaves or fully dried leaves but don't use wilted leaves. For fresh leaf tea, we just washed the leaves thoroughly and put them in with almost boiling water and steeped them for fifteen minutes. You could steep for less like five minutes, but we like stronger tea.
To preserve the raspberry leaves for storage, we washed them thoroughly and just leave them out on the counter in between towels to dry out most of the dampness. After they are fairly dry, we put them in brown paper bags and leave them to dry on the counter. This works fairly well, and they leaves just need to be moved around once in a while to ensure they dry thoroughly throughout. After the raspberry leaves are dry, we store them in mason jars in the cupboard.
To make raspberry leaf tea from dry leaves, the procedure is the same as fresh leaf tea but less tea leaves by volume or weight is required. Try different ways to see how you like it!
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Please consume wild plants at your own risk! Consult multiple reliable sources before consuming any wild plants! This video is for information and entertainment only!
References
Gray, Beverley. The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North. Aroma Borealis Press. 2011.
Millard, Elizabeth. Backyard Pharmacy: Growing Medicinal Plants in Your Own Yard. Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. 2015.