Woodruff when to harvest and process?

Woodruff when to harvest and process?

Determine the ideal time to harvest

It is not without reason that the punch enriched with woodruff flavor is also referred to as May punch. It is traditionally only prepared in spring by briefly soaking fresh woodruff. The reason for this is that woodruff should actually only be harvested before the start of its flowering period between mid-April and mid-May. In the forest, you can recognize the woodruff before the white and cross-shaped flowers bloom by his stems up to 30 centimeters long with the lance-shaped leaves arranged in a circle. The plants often form extensive carpets in the sheltered shade of trees and bushes, as they not only multiply by sowing seeds themselves, but also through their root network.

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  • Harvest woodruff and use fresh or preserved
  • Woodruff himself harvest and dry

How long to wait until harvest of home grown woodruff?

When sowing woodruff in your own garden, you should consider a few things:

  • The season for sowing is at the end of the year, as woodruff is a frost germ
  • As a dark germ, woodruff should be covered thinly with soil when sowing
  • Uniform moisture during the germination phase is essential for the forest plant

In principle, when sowing from September onwards, the woodruff can harvest the first stalks in spring at the earliest. However, you should be aware that this will seriously disrupt the development of roots and plants in a newly planted location. It is therefore better to collect woodruff from a newly created location in the second year.

Plan the woodruff's harvest according to use

You should adjust the harvest of the fresh woodruff to the planned use. You will get the best taste results if you hang the cut stalks upside down and let them wither briefly before further processing. You can also dry or freeze the woodruff for longer-term storage. If you need the plant for may punch at short notice, you can also achieve the aroma development by freezing it briefly.

Tips & Tricks

Harvesting the woodruff before flowering is recommended, as the coumarin content in the plants then increases relatively sharply. Woodruff can still be used in summer or autumn, but it should be dosed even more sparingly.

WK