Herbs are a great way to flavor almost any food dish, but buying them at the store can be expensive. A more cost effective option that adds money to your pocket and flavor to your meals is to grow and dry your own herbs. It can also be tons of fun, especially if you have children who can help.
Fresh herbs have a benefit over the dried ones you buy in the store. If you have a sunny spot and some good soil, you can grow your own herbs at home. Choose the ones that you use most to season food and grow them in small planters.
When growing herbs, treat them like any other plant. Pruning and cutting back the leaves brings even more leaves. As you cut and use fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme, they will continue to grow. In fact, the herbs may grow faster than you can use them, so share some with friends and neighbors.
Another alternative to letting the extra go to waste is to dry your fresh herbs. Dried fresh herbs lose their moisture, but still retain the entire flavor of a fresh plant. You’ll now have herbs to last for months to come and you can pass them on to others once they are dried as well.
Begin with your equipment. You’ll need a place to dry them. You can use wooden or wire racks. That cooling rack you use in the kitchen for cookies and cakes would be perfect for drying herbs. Gather together a colander, some cheesecloth, paper towels, and some string.
All herbs to be dried should be washed and rinsed in cold water. A colander is perfect because the water can drain out the bottom. Use paper towels to pat each leaf and stalk until dry of any visible moisture.
Herbs can be dried in many ways. If you only want the leaves, remove the stalk and lay the leaves on a drying rack. Depending on the size of the leaves, you may need a wire rack for them as opposed to a cooling rack from the kitchen.
Herbs can also be dried in bunches. Tie them with string at the stalks and hang them upside down on a nail to air dry. This can be accomplished outside or indoors, but should be done in an area that is ventilated with no humidity. Humidity will help your herbs to retain their moisture and prevent drying. Use cheesecloth to cover herbs on a cooling rack if you plan on letting them dry outside.
Use the oven for faster drying. The temperature should remain low (around 120 degrees). Gently touch the leaves every half hour to test for dryness. The microwave oven is an alternative, but you will have to be careful not to shrivel them up.
Dried herbs will keep for a six months. After that, the flavor begins to wane. Herbs should be stored in Mason jars or plastic containers, just be sure to label them so you know which herb is which. In order to keep the herbs dry and avoid molding during storage, seal the containers air tight.
Herbs season food in many unique and yummy ways. Drying herbs allows you to savor the flavor while saving money and having fun all at once.
I’m realy happy to have been introduced to this website. I am from the USA but am currently based in the western caribbean, so some things that I might share would have limited application up north, but I think and hope that many things will be transferrable. Thanks for starting this informative site. -dl-
Hi, Love the site. Wanted to comment on drying herbs. Another helpful way to dry them is using screen. You know a window screen. If you are doing berries… like elderberries I recommend two screens. The air has to get to the berries to dry them but you don’t want them nasty fruit flies enjoying them either.
Also you can use the air conditioner filter, the ones that are white and have a “ridges center” (sort of looks like the paper fans you would make as a kid by folding a piece of paper over and over again), set the herbs in the ridges, put one on top of it for a lid, then take a bungee cord and the filters to the front of a box fan. Turn the fan on and the herbs will dry!
Hi, love your site made the homemade ketchup it was a big smash all loved it.My pepper plants are being ate and i dont know what to do for them. Any idea’s will be greatly appreciated.
I enjoy your web site very much. My husband’s grandmother used to dry foods in her car. No joke. Think about it….low humidity and high heat. We live in Georgia. Husband said her car took on many odd smells. I have dried a few things in the car since and it works beautifully. I now have a dehydrator which I dearly love. I have found that basil does not dry well, but you can chop it up, stuff it tightly into ice cube trays and add a bit of water and freeze them. Place the cubes in a baggie and you have “fresh” basil when needed.
Thank you! I’m going to do this with Cilantro, which seems to rot on the way out of the store! This wil be a good way to keep it for use in salsa. Here’s a tip for keeping celery for future cooking use. I made pesto out of beautiful homegrown celery leaves, using olive oil and onions and then froze it flat in plastic baggies. Just break off a piece for flavoring whatever needs a taste of celery.