The hardest part is finding a place to hang them!
Parsley.
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Thyme dangling from my ceiling!
With Oregano Opposite.
How to Dry your Own Herbs
#1. Go out to your garden or pick up your CSA box (or go to the store, I guess) and get yourself some Home Grown, Organic Herbs. (No, not that kind! ;-)
#2. Wash herbs under cold water. Gently shake off excess water.
#3. Pat herbs dry with a clean dish towel, or just let them lay on the dish towel overnight if it is dry (low humidity) in your region right now.
#4. Using kitchen string, yarn, or even garbage bag twist ties, fashion your herbs into a bundle, tying fairly tightly so they stay together. Lasso those herbs! Wrangle 'em down, good! Now, make a loop (I use an extra twist tie for this!) and,
#5. Hang your herb bundle upside down where it will get nice air circulation until it is dry and crumbly. (Don't let it hang there forever, or it will get dusty!)
#6. Store dried herbs in a zipper bag, or even vacuum seal them if you have one of those gadgets (I don't have one...yet!).
Home Dried Sage, Home Dried Parsley.
Home dried herbs taste great, and do taste different than commercially dried herbs. Sage in particular is absolutely lovely when home dried, but can be too pungent and aggressive when purchased commercially. Home dried oregano is spectacular--bright and spicy, and I always use ours all up before the next batch can even dry fully!
To use home dried herbs, I just remove the bundle from the bag, and crumble some off with my fingers into whatever recipe I'm making.
Happy Drying!
Homesteading it, October 1st through October 31st, 2012
I've never had enough of an herb at once to want to dry it, but mine always do go bad toward the end, so maybe that's not a bad idea. I love the photo of the thyme hanging from the ceiling! Ha! Does it add any scent to the air?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I got a lot of herbs (way more than I could use in one week) from my garden AND from my CSA. Otherwise, I would never have enough to dry them! They're expensive to buy from the store (but grow like weeds in a garden!).
DeleteMy kitchen/dining room is one big room, plus, my house is old and my windows are drafty! I'd have to have a LOT of herbs around for it to smell good (I wish it did!). But rosemary is potent, so when I bring it in it is noticeable for a bit.
XOXO
I always mean to do this and never do. I really should!
ReplyDeleteLasso those suckers, Tami! Wrangle 'em down! :-)
DeleteXOXO!
Thanks for the tips and clear instructions - you're the first to inspire me to actually do it. I think my fear has been all the cat hair in our house all the time... I'm terrified of preserving it along with my herbs! Ick!!
ReplyDeleteAdrienne, you probably know that I have a cat, too :-) She makes her way into enough of my pictures!
DeleteAnd I have to hang my herbs pretty high! Like from the ceiling and from cabinet knobs!
Haha. I have the same problem. I get all sorts of lovely herbs, and then... where to dry them! Every hook gets used. As an added bonus, I have to make sure it's hanging somewhere my cat can't get it! :D
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I hang mine from the ceiling and high-up cabinet knobs!
DeleteI can't keep fresh herbs in the house over the winter, either, because she will chew the leaves to bits!
My cat also enjoys tail-bombing or face huffing my blog pictures. Often :-)
XOXO!
My herbs dry in little baskets or in brown paper bags, because I know I can get lazy and let them get very dusty!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of just putting them in Ziploc bags, but that is a great idea. I always crumble them in spice jars, but that takes forever and it always has little bits of branches and all.
Baskets and brown paper bags are great ideas. Bet the baskets are pretty, too. My cat would love those little baskets and brown paper bags! :-))
DeleteGlad to make it easier on you with the plastic bags for storing. I love anything easy and efficient!
XOXO
I gave you a shout-out on my Week 1 Vegan MoFo round-up post today!
ReplyDeleteThank ya' kindly, ma'am!
DeleteWow, how easy is that? This is such a good idea for those times that I buy a bunch of herbs but can't think of a way to use them all before they go bad. I'm going to keep your drying method in mind!
ReplyDeleteGlad it made a mash with ya'!
DeleteI super needed this! Its gettin' cold outside and time to dry some herbs for winter!! :)
ReplyDelete