Guest Author - Rebecca Lee Graf
Dried herbs are the most common form of herbs that you will find in the kitchen. This is because they are easy to store and have a long shelf life. Drying herbs is easy and very economical.
Obviously, to dry herbs you need to start with fresh herbs. When harvesting your herbs, do not pick off the fresh leaves. Cut the herbs with the leaves still attached to the stems or branches. Basically, you want to have herbs in a form that when placed together looks like a bouquet.
At this point, you have a few choices to dry your herbs. You can air dry or use a dehydrator. Each one has its pros and cons.
Air drying is the easiest and least expensive way to dry your herbs. The most work comes from harvesting the herbs. Once they are harvested, herbs can be air dried two ways. One way is to bunch the herbs into small bouquets and hang them upside down. If you have the space, this can be an excellent way to dry your herbs. Hang them in your garage, in kitchen windows, in your herb shed, or any other dry place. You might look at some trees or other outside place, but keep in mind that these places are open to moisture. Rain and the morning dew could destroy your herb crop that you are trying to dry. Because of this, always hang your herbs in dry places where moisture cannot interfere in the process.
If you do not have a place to hang your herbs, consider laying them on mesh screens that will allow air flow around the herbs and successfully dry your herbs. When done right, these screens can be stacked on top of each other with a few inches between each level. Lay the herbs down separately. This method does not require the herbs to be in bouquet format.
Air drying is a lengthy process. Some leaves can take a week or two. Roots can take more than a month. Keep this in mind when planning your drying process.
Using a dehydrator is another possibility to dry your herbs. This is quicker than air drying. Many people feel that some of the essential oils are lost in the forced quick dry. It does have the advantage in not taking up as much room as air drying herbs and is obviously much faster.
Once your herbs are dried, you can then store them in bottles or plastic bags. You can even freeze them at this point to preserve them for later use.
