Drying White Clover. Love this! Your email address will not be published. The sun isnât the best place to dry herbs in general because it ⦠Mason jars are more air tight than baggies so the clover will last longer if you choose this option. Lay the blossoms out to dry. The most recent attempt to save money and to provide for ourselves came in the form of foraging and preserving weeds, flowers, and grasses. Remove the clover with as much of the stem as possible. Seeds will not develop unless the flowers are fertilized by pollen from another plant. Follow these steps and you will add another notch to your imaginary homesteading belt. The plant is shown at about actual size. Common white clover seldom grows tall enough to be harvested for hay or silage. Let it sit in a dark closet for 8-10 hours until most of the moisture is gone. I had no idea there was a use for white clover blossoms! Still, many homeowners simply donât appreciate all those small white flowers interrupting their field of green. Itâs large and fragrant and has a more noticeable color. I prefer to snip the blossom off. Another easy way to determine if it is white clover marring your luscious green lawn is by their leaves. White cloverâs cousin, red clover (Trifolium pratense), is much showier. You can dehydrate clover by putting the blossoms into an electric dehydrator, placing them on a baking rack in a sunny spot outside, tying them in bundles to hang dry (you will need to leave the stems attached when gathering if you use this option), or by using a solar oven. Drink this refreshing White Clover Iced Tea with your preserved white clover as a twist to a summertime staple. The caterpillars of Blue and Sulfur butterflies feed on foliage, buds, or flowers, including Hemiargus isola (Reakirt's Blue), Glaucopsyche lygdamus couperi (Silvery Blue), Colias philodice (Clouded Sulfur), and Colias eurytheme (Orange Sulfur). Pinch the stem of the flower with your thumb and index finger. Depending on conditions, your clover will be dry in 1 â 2 weeks. Red clover flour is very popular for desserts, due to its sweet aftertaste. Some clovers are annuals, others are perennials. 3. They also have a mild vanilla aftertaste. Beautification: White clover is seeded at 2 pounds per acre with grass for stabilization on moist soils. White clover (Trifolium repens) is often viewed as an invasive and unwanted weed, but it is actually very useful as an ingredient in food and drinks, in natural medicine, and in pollination. Wildlife: White clover is an excellent forage plant for wildlife. White clover (Trifolium repens), also known as Dutch clover, is a cool-season perennial that is often found growing in patches along roadsides and in pastures and lawns.It is a low-growing plant with creeping stems (stolons) that produce roots and shoots at ⦠Dried White Clover Flowers Ways To Use White Clover In The Kitchen. Give the clover a good rinse to remove any bugs that might be hanging around. Enjoy this creamy healing pudding as a snack or a light dessert. If it is mowed occasionally, it will reach about 4 inches high. The infusion of plant flower is ⦠If you forage with the stem attached, you will just have to remove it later. Place the wax paper in between the pages of a heavy book. Read more about them in this post. The white flower has a tinge of pink to it. Plant this perennial clover as a cover crop, groundcover, for erosion control or in your pasture mixture. (Trifolium repens) Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living, February 11, 2015 by Katie Femia Leave a Comment. Spread the blossoms and the leaves out onto trays or screens and let dry until crispy. The inset at the top right of the picture shows a much magnified image of just one flower in the head. Your email address will not be published. White Clover plant is considered Depurative, Tonic and Antirheumatic. Your email address will not be published. White Clover is fertilized by insects which carry pollen from one flower to another. Pour the rinsed and dried clover blossoms on top of the parchment paper, close the lid, open the reflectors, and let the oven do its work. Thanks! It is used as an Expectorant, Antiseptic and Analgesic properties. For this reason one should NOT include clover when making sauerkraut, kimchi, or other fermented greens as the fermentation process doesn't interfere with the production of cyanide. While it can grow in many different places, it is typically found in lawns, especially sparse lawns where the competition from grass is weak. Let it steep for 10-12 minutes. If you are a beginner at using “weeds” and herbs, then foraging and preserving white clover is the place to start! Take a look below at some helpful hints on how to dry and press four leaf clovers. 3. White clovers tolerate acid to moderately alkaline conditions. If you wish, a magnifying glass can help you get a better look. You can make a nutritious tea with the help of dried flowers of white clover plants. On dry sites it usually establishes only on wet or moist areas. Because we plant our clover via airplane, plenty of seeds make their way to our yard so we have wild and cultivated clover. Read our. Perhaps this is the reason that between the two clovers, it is the star in herbal medicine. Did you get your hands on a lucky four leaf clover? Find a grassy area where clovers are abundant. I used my All-American Sun Oven to dehydrate the clover. They have a blast searching for the correct plants in the yard and gathering them into their baskets. Trifolium repens, the white clover (also known as Dutch clover, Ladino clover, or Ladino), is a herbaceous perennial plant in the bean family Fabaceae (previously referred to as Leguminosae). Take a blanket, sit and relax, and gently comb through the clovers. 2. Prepare the soil well before planting seeds. White clover is a perennial plant in the pea family (Fabaceae). You can pull the clover from the stem of snip the blossom off with a pair of scissors. Make sure it is nice and flat. Its preparation is quite simple, take 4-5 dried white clover flowers and put them into one cup of boiled water. If you wish, you can gradually add more weight to the book to really press the clover out. Place the blossoms in a basket or on a drying rack and place in a dark, warm, ventilated, and dry place. The leaves can be used fresh in salads or as greens in cooked dishes. Advantage #1: Nitrogen. Step 3 - Make Tea. Be careful when checking to see if your flowers or leaves are dry. I'm Jess and I am so glad you are here! White clover seeds are sown directly on the ground. Also, be sure to take pictures because what is cuter than Supergirl and Luke Skywalker picking flowers/weeds/herbs together? Dried white clover blossoms can be stored in zip lock bags or mason jars. Because of a bacteria present in its roots, clover is able to produce its own nitrogen from the air giving it a huge advantage over grass thatâs not fertilized. Place your harvest on trays or racks to dry. The white item at the top left in the above picture is not a clover flower. Foraging is so much fun for children. Once you have found the clover you wish to dry and press, you can follow these steps. Can’t wait to get out and forage! We plant clover across our pastures to feed the cattle and the bees. Find a grassy area where clovers are abundant. Clover has many medicinal properties… anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and blood cleansing to name a few. Ground red clover flowers into a baking flour. An infusion made from the plant treats Cough, Fever, Cold and Leucorrhoea. ), be sure to toss them because buttercups are toxic when ingested. See how simple it can be to dry and press your own four leaf clover? Make sure wherever you lay your harvest is not too moist or humid. Gently remove the seeds from the clover plant by sliding your thumb and index finger up the stem. Did you know that you can make flour out of clover? I love the sound of the iced tea. Next, lay the clover between two pieces of wax paper. Just give your kiddos a basket, show them which plant to look for, and let them go! It is mainly propagated by seeds. Make sure that the Sun Oven has a shadow behind it at all times for best results. White clover puts out small white flower clusters and is a perennial. Dutch White Clover is one of the most popular clovers used in lawns, but also has many other uses. It spreads by stolons (runners) and forms shallow roots at nodes. The leaves and flowers both have a slightly sweet taste. That's another reason I had green spots of clover all summer when a lot of others had nothing but brown crunch. Hot Clover Tea can be substituted for store bought herbal teas. 4. When the flowers are completely dry and crispy, cut the flowers from the stems, place them in an airtight container and label the jar. Once you have found the clover you wish to dry and press, you can follow these steps. Set your mower on the lowest height while your Dutch clover is in bloom, usually in summer, to remove the flowers before they set seed. Seed red clover generally in fall in warm climates. When they dry up and turn brown, the seeds will be ready to harvest. Make your own “honey” using a mix of red and white clover blossoms. Like other flowering plants, the process is somewhat simple. Allow the clover to sit in the pages for 2-3 days. The clover will be very delicate, but it is important it gets a few hours to dry. 1. White Sweet Clover is considered an excellent nectar plant for Apis mellifera (Honey Bee) by beekeepers. STEP 1: GATHER STEP 1: GATHER « 19+ Outdoor Summer Activities for the Family, Simple White Clover Tea with Mint and Honey Recipe ». Leaves: The alternate leaves are composed of 3 leaflets (trifoliate), which may or may not have a âcrescentâ or âwatermarkâ on the upper surface; membranous stipules lanceolate to ovate, 5/32 to 13/16 inch long; leaf stalk long; leaflets obovate or oval, 3/1⦠I have a backyard full of white clover. White clover features three leaves that form a petal shape. Leaves and roots develop along the stolon at the nodes. Whatever the case may be, drying your own clovers is easy and can be done in just a few steps. It does flower of course, but those little white flowers don't grow on very tall stalks. 6. Required fields are marked *, This post may contain affiliate links. A great way to display your four leaf clover is to frame it. This will help seal it and keep it intact. It is a head of flowers, also known as an inflorescence.Each one of the slender, white things in the head is a flower. You can rinse the blossoms in a strainer or in a bowl, just be gentle with them so they don’t rip apart. The flowers can be dried and ground up ⦠Unless you choose to eat the leaves or flowers when they are fresh, you need to dry out your harvest so you can store it properly. Waiting for Bloom If your lawn is spotted with pink or white flowers that attract bees and butterflies, you have clover. Put the blooms between 2 paper towels and allow to dry naturally in a warm, dry environment, such as an airing cupboard. To begin, you will need to find your clovers, whether they be basic clovers or four leaf. I am a homesteader, homemaker, and former homeschooler living the simple life in the great state of Tennessee with my best friend and 4 kiddos by my side. Step 2 - Dry Blossoms. Trey's colleague, Michigan State Environmental Turf Grass specialist Ron Calhoun agrees, and says that their long-term studies of corn gluten meal mirror the Iowa State results: "Heavy feeding of cool-season grasses with corn gluten meal in the Fall virtually eliminates clover over a three or four year period." Dehydrating is the best way to preserve white clover blossoms. You can also dry quickly using a microwave. The blossoms are rich in honey, and as this can be reached by the ordinary honey bee, White Clover is of great importance to beekeepers. You want the weight of the pages to press the clover flat. Flowers are white, often with pink tinge, and are arranged in aggregated, rounded heads that can hold up to 85 flowers. Have fun foraging :):). Red clover, with a medium pink flower, is a taller species, and can be used as an accent in the flower bed. Identifying clover is relatively straightforward. Plant white clover seed, for instance, in spring or in late summer to fall, so long as you put it down before any freezes occur. Just add a tiny dab of glue and press it to a piece of scrapbook paper. Micro clover is basically a dwarf version of white clover, and doesnât reach higher than 6 inches, even if you never mow it . You can also dry and ground red clover flowers into a fine powder/flour to be used to prepare baked goods. If your children pick buttercups along with the clover (mine picked a ton! If you wish, a magnifying glass can help you get a better look. We 1. raise livestock for meat and milk 2. keep bees for honey 3. grow produce for eating fresh and preserving 4. replaced paper towels with flour sack towels 5. use food scraps for compost 6. make all of our own cleaning supplies… The list of steps toward resourcefulness and self-reliance goes on and on. Here is how you can get started. To do this, place wire racks or trays with leaves and flowers in a shaded area. The elegant, white flowers create a sweeping carpet of white. Once they are dry, you can start the preservation process. 5. Adapted to soils with fine to medium texture, they can survive in well to poorly drained areas. After that, strain the solid waste with the help of a tea strainer, and itâs ready to consume. Once the clover is dry, take off the petals and dispose of any thick stalks. White clover is a cool-season perennial with a prostrate, stoloniferous growth form, 5 to 8 inches long. Use the White Clover Iced Tea Recipe above, but don’t add the ice . You will find that making these little gems last forever is easy, it is the finding them part that is hard. Store the dried herbs in air-tight jars. The tincture of leaves is used as an ointment for Gout. Just place a sheet of parchment paper over a baking sheet or rack and put it into the Sun Oven. Give this tutorial a try the next time you find a lucky four leaf clover! You can use this flour to make just about anything that you use wheat flour for. Spread this white clover jelly on toast for a yummy breakfast! Take a little basket, bag, or a gathering apron to carry your foraged clover blossoms in. Depending on the temperature and humidity where you live, you'll want to leave the flowers to dry in the books for 2-6 weeks. I’ve been trying to get rid of our clover for the last couple of years because it spreads like weeds in our garden but now that I know what to do with them thanks to your blog, I won’t be so quick to get rid of it! You can find white clover growing wild, you can plant White Clover Seeds in patches around your yard, or you can replace your grassy lawn with clover. The easiest of these to utilize is probably the white clover, although they are all fairly simple to gather and use. I have dried rose petals for bath & body products, dandelions for jelly and tea, purple dead nettle for tea and tinctures, and white clover for tea, soap, and jelly. Choose clover in an area that hasnât been sprayed and that isnât used as a pet potty spot. Ensure that the blossoms are well spaced and not touching each other, and turn frequently while drying. Seed coats are extremely hard, thus allowing for extended dormancy periods in the soil. Alternatively, tie the blossoms and leaves into bundles and hang until completely dry and crispy. Choose clover in an area that hasn’t been sprayed and that isn’t used as a pet potty spot. I love to share my experiences, tips, advice, and encouragement with mamas just like you! I have been on a mission over the past few years to rely less on outside sources like Walmart for products that we use on a daily basis in our home and on our farm. Use the raw leaves in salads or dehydrate them for later use. Homesteading. You can then insert the paper into a frame with a glass cover and display. The leaves of micro clover are twice as small as those of white clover, ⦠It could still be damp from dew or outdoor moisture and you want to dry this out as much as possible. Mowing it over is only a temporary fix, as clover always grows back, and fast. Uses as Food White clover is a perennial weed that grows low to the ground. Once your clover is dried and well flattened, you can carefully remove it and spray it with a light spray of regular hold hair spray. I love collecting red clover–this will be even easier! Using Red Clover Internally Red clover is high in calcium, magnesium, iron, and vitamin C making it good as a bone building tea . Learn how to gather and preserve white clover! Then, allow them to turn crisp. This method is fast and efficient. Clover (Trifolium) fixes nitrogen in the soil, which can be beneficial to other plants when the clover dies. Give the clover a good rinse to remove any bugs that might be hanging around. Required fields are marked *. If left to dry for 4-6 weeks these cyanides will disappear. Take a blanket, sit and relax, and gently comb through the clovers. It also develops a taproot. 7. Red clover is sparse in our yard, but white clover is all over the place! I live in the mountains in Colorado, so I only needed to leave mine a couple weeks thanks to the low humidity! STEP 2: RINSE *White clover leaves can be foraged and preserved similarly to the blossoms. Nitrogen is what makes plants green. Enjoy your foraged clover and locally picked strawberries in this sweet treat! Dried white clover flowers make a ⦠Iced White Clover Tea with Fresh Mint and Honey, Southern Skillet Apple Pie Bread Pudding Recipe, Simple White Clover Tea with Mint and Honey Recipe, 19+ Outdoor Summer Activities for the Family, 26+ Homemade Pantry Staple Recipes + Substitutions. I learned the properties of red clover before I learned most of the other herbs in my yard. I, too, am on that mission to rely less on the store bought stuff. Place the rinsed white clover blossoms on a flour sack towel or a dish towel and gently pat them dry. Thanks for sharing this. Your email address will not be published. As soon as you pick the clover, remove it from the sunlight and keep it in a cool, dark place laying flat. hay, silage, and green chop. Or perhaps you just found a few beautiful clovers you would like to preserve? If theyâre in the sun, itâll only take a few hours and you can go right to work. Foraging and preserving clover blossoms, no matter how they came to be, isn’t complicated. 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