08/13/2026
Harvesting Asemaa / To***co - How To:
August is a perfect time to harvest your Asemaa. It’s probably flowering and the leaves are the biggest that they’ll get. You’ll want to harvest the leaves while they’re green, before they turn yellow.
Some like to wear gloves because the ni****ne does transfer through the skin and it’s strong!
If you want it to re-seed, or to grow it again, let some flowers go to seed. One flower produces a million tiny seeds so you don’t need much!
We harvest the leaves stacked in a freezer ziplock bag and we FREEZE the leaves. This cuts down on the ni****ne so that it’s more pleasant for smoking in a pipe and helps to maintain its dark green color.
Once the leaves are frozen, then they can be taken out to thaw, peeled apart carefully and set on dehydrator trays. We dehydrate on low, 95 degrees, overnight or longer if needed.
After that, it’s very easy to put the leaves in a bowl and crunch them by hand to get smaller pieces for bagging up.
We need to offer a big Chi Miigwech to Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings for sharing this teaching with us at Food Sovereignty! 🙏🏼 and we’re happy to pass it on so you know how to take care of your asemaa.
Happy harvesting ✨
