If you want to use this herb, you have to be brave or rely on its wide spectrum of effects. Wormwood tastes extremely bitter, but it has enormous healing potential. This 'bitter medicine' is easy to plant and harvest as described below.
When and how should you harvest wormwood?
You should ideally harvest wormwood during the flowering period from June to August/September. Make sure to only harvest the plant from the second year onwards. Harvest the leaves and inflorescences and dry them for later use if necessary.
The right harvest time
The best time to harvest wormwood is during its flowering period. During this time, the content of active ingredients in wormwood is highest. Flowering usually begins in June and lasts until August/September. But be careful: It is generally advisable to only harvest the plant from the second year onwards.
Harvest the leaves, flowers and seeds
It is common practice to harvest the leaves and inflorescences of wormwood. They represent the parts of the plant that are used for tea and the like. If you want to propagate the herb the following year, cut off some of the seeds in late summer. The seeds contained have good germinability.
You can pick off the leaves, but you should cut off the inflorescences. The easiest and fastest way to do this is to use scissors or secateurs to cut off the upper parts of the stems or branch tips. Be careful not to cut woody stems!
Dry and use the harvested crop
Once the leaves and flowers are harvested, if not used immediately, they should be spread out and dried. If you have cut off whole stems, you can tie them together and hang them to dry. Otherwise, the plant parts are spread out, for example on newspaper, a baking tray or in a dehydrator and dried.
Since the leaves and flowers do not contain much water, they do not lose their quality or aroma during the drying process. Whether fresh or dried, they can be used for, among other things, making:
- Tea
- Spice for fatty dishes
- Tinctures
- Oil
- Envelopes
Tips & Tricks
Individual tender or young leaves of wormwood can be harvested before the flowering period. Then their taste is less bitter and more pleasant.
