Red raspberry leaves make wonderful herbal tea. Unlike many other herbs, this tea actually has a robust flavor. This makes red raspberry leaves(RRL), a fine addition to may herbal tea blends that may be too light tasting for some people. 

RRL is included in almost all of my herb tea recipes. After a while it's all I can taste, so I decided to try to change up the flavor after reading that some people have actually fermented their leaves.

 

Since I love fermenting many of the foods my family eats, why not some of my herbs as well? Here is what I did: 

1. Picked fresh RRL and plan on starting to ferment them right away. Remove any stems that are hard. Keep any stems that are still soft and green, they can be mashed easily and won't interfere with the fermenting process. Remove all bugs and other bits that may have gotten included in your harvest. Remember, you will be cutting your leaves very fine and don't want to include anything unwanted to the mix. 

2. Using a home pasta maker, put your leaves through the fine cutter setting of your pasta maker. The original directions mentioned running the leaves through the dough roller side to bruise them, but after trying a handful or two, I decided that the leaves came out just fine without this step. 

3. Place all the finely cut leaves into a glass jar. Do not overfill, but do fill to the top of the jar, since the leaves will shrink and compress a bit during the fermentation process.

 

4. Close the jar with a lid, and place in a dark/warm location. Some ideas for fermenting location are the top of the refrigerator or the cupboard over your stove. Do wrap the jar in a bath towel to keep out the light. 

5. Allow the leaves to ferment for 3 days. Every day and evening, shake the jar well to loosen the leaves that will tend to clump together. It is important to leave the lid on the jar during this time, and to rewrap the jars after shaking them. 

6. After 3 day, remove lid and take a sniff. Believe it or not, fermented raspberry leaves smell just like a  ripe banana. I read that in the original post on this technique and it's true! Fermented properly, your leaves will be softer and reduced by 1/3

7. Spread your red raspberry leaves on a dehydrator tray and dry at 125 degrees until crispy and shriveled like tea leaves. 

That's it! 

Tips:

When the leaves are first placed into the jar and sealed, they will form condensation on the inside of the glass. This is normal and should not be removed. It is critical that you shake your jars to redistribute that moisture throughout all the leaf shreds and to avoid creating mold. 

Your raspberry leaf tea will have a unique flavor now that they are fermented. I feel it gives a nice depth to the tea and find myself drinking more of the fermented type than the fresh dried on it's own. 

This type of flavor also works well with a floral addition. Try fermented RRL tea with chamomile blossoms. It's a naturally sweet cup that will help soothe away tension and relax you after a long day. 

Give a small jar of this unique herbal tea as a gift this holiday season. You can say that it is your *special reserve* stash, and made in micro batches. Enjoy!