Monday, July 16, 2012

drying herbs

herbs for drying 

since we seem to be on a bit of an herb theme here, i thought i'd share a few thoughts about drying herbs. when summer is high and the herbs are exploding, i can never keep up. so i dry them, for the colder months when i'm dreaming of fresh herbs on everything from scrambled eggs to salad dressings to cool ice water.

drying herbs

drying herbs & curing garlic 

before you dry your herbs, be sure to rinse them or brush them off to remove any dirt or tiny critters. i dry my herbs in two main ways. the first is in hanging bunches. this works for things that get tall, like lemon balm, peppermint, and oregano (which is what is pictured here). i tie them up with twine and tape them to the door frame. hooks also work well. just make sure there is enough air flowing around them so that they can dry completely.

drying herbs 

for smaller herbs, rose petals, lavender, chamomile, red clover (pictured here), i use an old window screen on my dining room table. ideally, i should probably prop this up on something to increase air circulation, but it still works.

once everything is dry, i crumble up the big leaves and store everything in jars for later use. i shared my favorite herbal tea recipe here a few years ago (it's still my standby, and is delicious iced as well). i also use my dried herbs to make infused oils, my favorite shampoo, bath soaks, and obviously for cooking as well. what are your favorite herbs to dry?

3 comments:

  1. I've started doing this for the first time this year. It's lovely to see the jars fill a bit at a time, and I'm looking forward to having my own herbal teas for when the weather gets colder. I love that window screen idea - I've been using my dehydrator trays, but they're not very big and don't fit that much.

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  2. Window screens are a great tool. I recently used a door screen for collecting seeds.

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  3. My husband took an old side table, popped the top off leaving just the frame and legs and attached screening to it to create a drying table. It would work great if it weren't so humid where I am. Mostly, I stick to drying stuff in my gas oven with the pilot light on.

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