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Herb Collection
The Best Way to Dry Your Herbs
Does your garden leave you with a glut of fresh herbs? Let’s learn how to preserve our extras by air-drying them to save and share.
Pandemic times led to an emergence of hobbies and crafts from home, and many folks found interest in gardening once more. Since being relegated to stay at home, many green-gilled gardeners found ways to grow things rather than buy them. So what happens when you have way more herbs than you can use right now before they lose peak flavor?
Believe it or not, people once relied mainly on what they could raise and grow from home. Subsistence farming remains the case in many parts of the world today, quite frankly. So, back to the point, how do you preserve what excess herbs you have to keep for yourself and share?
Why air dry?
Drying solves the problem of avoiding food waste with plants like herbs, peppers, and bulbs like onions. You benefit from numerous ways to dry herbs, like an oven or dehydrator. Depending on herb type, other options include drying in a paper bag or setting in a windowsill. However, today we discuss the cheapest, easiest, and most traditional way to dry herbs: air drying.
Air drying proves superior to other methods of herb preservation in several vital ways. You retain the quality of essential oils through a slower drying process, and heat drying methods will evaporate oils instead of keeping them. Additionally, air drying costs the least and consumes little energy by having eliminated the heating element.
How-To:
Optimize flavor by harvesting your herbs at the right time. Minimize stress and wilting by gathering in the early morning after the dew dries. You want specimens with buds of flowers that have not yet blossomed.
Yet, you want them right on the cusp of blossoming. Avoid bruising the cuttings or exposing them to the sun for long. Instead, rinse herbs in cool water, gently shake them dry and proceed to the next stage.
