Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
German chamomile is an annual with hollow, cone-shaped yellow disks and apple-scented daisy heads. Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) is a perennial groundcover — related use, different plant.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: German chamomile, camomile, wild chamomile
What it is
German chamomile is an annual with hollow, cone-shaped yellow disks and apple-scented daisy heads. Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) is a perennial groundcover — related use, different plant.
From the existing encyclopedia
Chamomile lends floral aroma to teas, honey, and dessert sauces. A little quantity goes far; overpowering heat destroys delicate volatile oils. Toast whole seeds briefly in a dry pan to wake volatile oils before grinding. Works alongside green tea or ginger in everyday beverage rotation. When substituting dried Chamomile for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- flower heads as tea
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Annual; cool season
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Light, well-drained; too-rich soil = foliage, few flowers
- Planting. Surface-sow; needs light. Successions in spring and fall.
- Harvest. Pick fully open heads on a dry morning; they dry fast.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. A single layer until the centers are crisp; store whole heads. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Evening infusion of flower heads, often with mint
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.