Drying herbs is an art

After you have indulged yourself to a generous treat of fresh herbs from your herb garden, it’s time now to store herbs for rest of the year. Why only for yourselves? You can dry herbs and give away freshly packed dry herbs to your family and friend. And you can very well expect a radiant smile on their face.

Home-dried herbs are just as tasty as those bought from your superstore. But, it is of utmost necessity that you know how to dry herbs and store them. Enthusiasts of herb gardening feel, that drying herbs is more of a ritualistic affair and an art than just a mere process. This signifies the importance of proper herbs harvesting for further drying and storing of herbs.
The best time to collect herbs for drying and storage is just before flowering. This is because most herbs are at their peak flavor then. Another reliable way of harvesting herbs at the right time is to take the help of some reference books.

It is advisable that herbs be cut off early in the morning, just before the dew dries up. Also, refer to the procedures for cutting herbs – annual herbs should be cut off at ground level; while perennial herbs should be cut about one-third down the main stem, including the side branches.

After the herbs are cut, wash them lightly with the leaves on the stems, in cold running water to remove any soil, dust, bugs, or any other impurities. Then, pat-dry the herbs thoroughly on absorbent towels or hang them upside down in the sun until the water dries up. Then, once the herb plants have dried up, remove all blossoms and strip the leaves off the stalks, leaving only about six inches at the top.

Proper and thorough drying of herbs is essential for storage of herbs. Different processes and techniques are followed for drying herbs, like retaining the color of leaves in dry herbs as well as protecting high moisture content leaves from molding.

Retaining the green leaf coloring is also essential mostly to enhance the commercial value as well as to enact the freshness of the herbs. The green coloring is retained by drying the herb plants in dark, warm, well-ventilated, dust-free area, upside down in paper bags.

As the whole stems are tied very tightly in small bunches; stems will gradually shrink and fall individually. Herbs leaves in such conditions are usually are ready when they are dry. You will notice the leaves start crumbling in about 1 to 2 weeks.

Dr. Craig