Here's hoping I don't end up with a double post now. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows whether the red raspberry leaf tea used as a pregnancy tonic is made from a specific cultivar of red raspberries, and how you would treat the leaves to prepare them to be made into tea.

I was thinking I could just cut leaves off my red raspberry plants (but at what stage? When they first emerge? When mature? Dark green? Starting to turn red?) and dry them like other dried herbs. But maybe there's more to it than that.

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Heather

I canÂ’t help you with your question but I thought I would let you know that I have had three of my posts do that disappearing act today too. :O

Are we having sun spots or something? ?:|

HeatherHead,
Here's a good web site:

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/PrintablePages/herbMonogra...11475,552026,00.html

I know women that use raspberry leaf for menstrual cramps and
for pregnancy...hope all is ok(?) Hope you are not too ill with this pregnancy(?) Best wishes to you from franeli in NH.

Thanks, franeli! I'll check out the site. Just wanted to let you know that everything is fine--in fact, today I've hardly felt ill at all, and I'm only 9 weeks pregnant, so it's a small miracle to be pretty much over the morning sickness.

I take the red raspberry leaf as a general uterine tonic during pregnancy.

Thanks again for the link, and for your concern.

Heather

Heather, according to Dr. Christopher (founder of The Natural School of Healing) Red Raspberry Leaf Tea is like the all time best thing in the world, any time, any where, etc., etc. No specific cultivar, you can harvest the leaves any time after they are fully formed and dry them like any other herb for tea. I can't remember the web page for the school (has lots of info), but the page that sells his original herb formulas is - herbsfirst.com. That should be able to link you to the school info. My friend loves the stuff (ahem, tea) I had to find a place to buy the leaves on line because she uses so much. Let me know if you want that web page also.

Kitt

Thank you! I knew that the tea was good for everything, but especially for pregnancy, as it tones the uterus and prepares it for the rigors ahead . It's also very nutritious.

Thanks for the info on collecting it! As soon as mine are fully in leaf, I'll collect some and dry it in my dehydrator to use for my supplement.

Thank you!

Heather