Herbs hanging up to dry
If your herb garden takes off, and you find yourself with a bumper crop of leafy green produce, never fear. It’s simple to dry excess herbs for future culinary use—or to make your own decorative sachets, potpourris, or wreaths.
Herbs hanging up to dry
THE BASIC HOW-TOS
Most people who grow herbs find some occasion to dry them, and there are a number of techniques that work well. Your ultimate goal is for the herbs to dry out without any trace of moisture, mold, or mildew. You also want the maximum flavor retention. Most dried herbs gain potency, while a few others lose it. You will also discover that “fresh” dried herbs beat out their packaged, store-bought cousins in terms of taste, intensity, and aroma.
Hang Ups: The simplest solution for preserving herbs is copying what humans have done for millennia: hanging them up to dry. Tie your herbs into small bundles using twist ties so you can tighten them as the stems shrink. Place muslin or a mesh or brown bag with a few holes in it around the bundle and fasten it at the top. Any warm dry place that is not your kitchen should work as a location. Once the herbs are properly dried—they’re brittle to the touch and crumble easily—it’s time to store them in sealed glass containers. You may be inclined to grind them all first, but intact herbs maintain their character far longer than ground ones.
Solar Dehydrator: These drying frames can be easily made by stapling mesh screening onto two large flat frames and placing your herbs between the layers. The sun will do all the work after you lay them out on a deck or porch until the herbs are withered. You can also buy round, tiered hanging mesh racks online.
Oven Warming: This method takes time and effort. The herbs need to be dried at 100°F, and require air circulation, which is difficult to achieve in ventless ovens. Arrange the herbs on a cheesecloth-covered cooling rack and watch over them as they dry. Microwaves can also dry herbs, but they too need constant attention. Strip leaves off stems and place them between two paper towels. Start with one minute on high, then rest for 30 seconds. Then alternate 30 seconds on, 30 off, until the herbs are the right consistency. It may take 10 minutes.
The Neglect Method: Most of us have discovered this method by accident. We collected a bunch of herbs, put them on a table or counter, then forget they were there for a week or two. We ended up with nicely dried herbs, unless they got moldy or were nibbled on by mice. Still, this method does work if you’re willing to accept less-than-stellar results. Another easy trick is leaving herbs outside their packaging in a refrigerator; they will often end up crisp, colorful, and flavorful.
DIY: Herbal Door Wreath
