Can osmanthus be eaten raw?

It is best not to eat osmanthus raw. Usually people make it into desserts to eat, which will make the taste of osmanthus better. If eaten raw, it will become a bit bitter. You can also use a proper amount of osmanthus to make tea, which is considered a relatively famous scented tea with bright colors.

Osmanthus tea is a precious scented tea made from refined tea leaves and fresh osmanthus flowers. It has a rich and long-lasting fragrance and a bright green tea color, and is deeply loved by consumers.

1. Raw material ratio: Generally, 50 kg of refined tea embryos are matched with 15 kg of fresh osmanthus flowers, which can be increased or decreased appropriately depending on the grade of the scented tea.

2. Preparation of tea embryos: Select fresh and tender tea leaves with 1 bud and 2 leaves as raw materials, and adopt the new tea-making process of "high-temperature braking, rapid rubbing, and safe drying" to make green tea embryos. The tea embryo leaves are required to be young and tender, with tight strands and aromatic smell, and the water content is below 5%. It can be scented when it is cooled to 26-30℃. You can also take refined green tea and heat it to 30℃ before scenting.

3. Harvesting osmanthus: During the blooming period of osmanthus, pick the flowers when they are in the shape of tiger claws, golden yellow, and just beginning to bloom. Pick them gently, release them loosely, and transport them quickly. Never hit them with a bamboo pole to avoid damaging the flowers and turning them red. When picking fresh flowers, remove the flower stalks, leaves and other debris in time and scent them as soon as possible. There are many varieties of osmanthus, such as golden osmanthus, silver osmanthus, red osmanthus, four-season osmanthus and moon osmanthus. Among them, golden osmanthus has the most intense and lasting fragrance and is of superior quality.

4. Tea embryo scented with flowers: First, spread a layer of tea embryo on a clean bamboo mat or white cloth, and then evenly add a layer of osmanthus according to the proportion of raw materials. Repeat this process by laying a layer of tea and a layer of flowers into a pile, and then cover the top layer with tea embryos. If the indoor temperature is below 20℃, cover the tea pile with white cloth to keep the temperature stable and encourage the flowers to emit fragrance normally. When there are fewer osmanthus flowers, you can scent them with the tea leaves in a wooden box or other container as mentioned above.

5. Open-flower method to dissipate heat: Open-flower method means to open up the tea pile and let it cool. When the tea embryos have absorbed the aroma for 2-3 hours and the temperature of the tea pile has risen to 40℃, you should open the tea pile in time and turn it upside down once to allow it to dissipate heat. When the temperature of the tea pile drops to below 30℃, it must be gathered into a pile for the second scenting to allow the tea embryos to absorb the fragrance evenly.

6. Screen out the flower residue: When the osmanthus flowers are wilted, the flowers turn purple-red, and the tea embryos are soft to the touch without sticking to your hands, you should end the flower scenting. Dig up the tea pile, sift out the flower residue, dry it and then add it to the tea.

7. Re-drying: When the tea embryo is scenting, it also absorbs a lot of water, with a moisture content of up to 15%. It is necessary to re-dry it as soon as possible to reduce the moisture content to about 5% to avoid mold.

8. Packaging and storage: After drying, it becomes osmanthus tea. Cool it naturally for 24 hours, seal it in exquisite paper bags and composite film bags according to weight specifications, put it into cartons, and it can be supplied to the market or stored in a ventilated and dry place indoors. Pay attention to prevent moisture, mildew and rodent damage, and the storage period should not exceed 1 year.