coupe de feuilles de ravintsara pour l'infusion

How are ravintsara leaves prepared for infusion in Madagascar?

We are pleased to share with you this video presented to us by Ayane, in charge of communication in Madagascar. It traces the production process of the leaves for the infusion of Ravintsara in Madagascar.

From collecting branches to drying leaves, everything is done manually.
The tools mentioned on the video each have a particular utility.
In order for you to visualize the precise use of these tools, we propose a presentation in chronological order of the process.

How do we harvest ravintsara leaves for infusion?

First, we will use the serpe to cut thin branches. We will then place these thin branches in the green gony (bag) that we will transport to the next stage, the drying shed.

How do we dry the leaves?

Once out of the plantation, we will bind the branches of ravintsara in the shape of a bouquet with banana bark. These barks, (leaves) almost dead take the form of a kind of filament.

Then there are the ropes, which we will place horizontally in the drying shed. We will suspend the previously bound bouquets for one to three weeks depending on the climate.

Drying of bouquets of ravintsara leaves
drying of the leaves

How do we sort ravintsara leaves for infusion?

Once dried, we collect the leaves for sorting and grinding. This mission is carried out by the women of the village. We perform this step in a sheltered and completely cleaned house.

The first team strips the branches to form a pile. Once we have formed this pile, we roughly grind the leaves with sticks.

Once we have done this first grinding, another team makes a finer cutting, this time by hand. The objective of this manoeuvre is to sort the sheets, so that we can pack them to optimize the space in the gony craft.

Crushing of ravintsara leaves
Leaf grinding

How do we pack ravintsara leaves for infusion?

Once we have finalized these steps, we place the leaves in the gony craft, (bag) we pack them and seal them with a hand-sewn cord joining the two ends of the gony craft.

This video is for you dear users of ravintsara, it describes and details the process of production, and export of your products.

We did this in the interest of transparency. The goal is to ensure a better understanding of the products you consume.

Packaging of ravintsara leaves
Packaging in the gony craft (bag)

If you want to know all the benefits of ravintsara, there is more information available on the link below.

https://www.utilisationravintsara.fr/quels-sont-les-bienfaits-des-feuilles-de-ravintsara/

More information about our ravintsara essential oil