How To Dry Passion Flowers

Drying passion flowers from your garden is a great way to preserve these stunning, short-lived flowers.

If you have a passion flower plant growing in your garden you can pick the flowers and leaves and dry them to make a calming herbal tea. 

In this article I’ll tell you how to harvest, prepare and dry passion flowers and share a passion flower herbal tea recipe that you can try at home.

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Passion flowers (Passiflora incarnata) grow on long vines so they’re ideal for  fences, trellises and pergolas.

They bloom from mid summer until fall and they’re most commonly blue or purple, but they’re also available in red and white varieties

The spectacular fragrant flowers only last for one day so it’s a good idea to harvest and preserve the flowers before they fall off the vine.

Picking and preparing passion flowers

Use a pair of pruning shears or scissors to cut the flowers off the vine.

Only use passion flowers from your own garden or from plants that you know haven’t been treated with pesticides.

Give the flowers a gentle rinse to remove any dirt from the petals and shake off the water.

Drying passion flowers

Here are three different ways to dry the flowers:

1. Dehydrator

Using a dehydrator is an easy and quick way to dry passion flowers.

Place the flowers and leaves facing down on the dehydrator trays and make sure that the flowers aren’t touching.

Put the lid on the dehydrator and place it on the lowest temperature setting.

Check the flowers after two hours and remove them once they’re dry and starting to crumble.

2. Sun drying

You can also dry the leaves and flowers outdoors if there isn’t any rain predicted for the next few days.

Place the flowers and leaves on a tray in a single layer and leave them outside in a sunny spot that is protected from wind.

It usually takes about three to five days for the flowers to dry completely, depending how hot the temperature is.

3. Oven drying 

You can also dry passion flowers in the oven if you watch them closely.

Place the flowers on an oven tray in a single layer and place it in the oven.

Set the oven to the lowest temperature setting and leave the door slightly open.

Check the flowers every half hour and remove them from the oven when they’ve dried out.

Store the dried flowers and leaves in an airtight container to use for herbal tea.

How to make passion flower tea

Passion flower tea is made by adding a teaspoon of dried passion flowers to a cup of boiling water or if you’re using a teapot, add 2 teaspoons to the pot.

Allow the tea to steep for a few minutes and then strain and sip slowly.

If you prefer a weaker tea, reduce the steeping time. You can also add honey for a hint of sweetness.

Passion flower tea nutrition

Passion flowers, leaves and stems contain an abundance of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, flavonoids and trace minerals. [1]

Taste

Passion flower tea has a slightly bitter, earthy taste so you may like to combine it with other fragrant herbs to improve the taste.

Valerian and lemon balm have similar calming properties as passion flower tea so they make a nice herbal tea blend.

Combine one third each of dried passion flower, lemon balm and valerian.

You can enjoy this combination to reduce nervous tension or to help with sleep.

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So there are my tips for harvesting, preparing and drying passion flowers.

Drying is a great way to preserve passion flowers so you can use them for many months.

Have you tried drying passion flowers or any other type of flowers to make your own herbal tea? Let me know in the comments below.

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