This is the third in a series of essays on bringing herbs into your life. The earlier journals can be found at these links:
Today, I’d like to describe how I preserve the herbs once I have harvested them, whether it is from the garden or from the fields.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge where we amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns. We invite you to share in the comments what you see in your own part of the world.
Drying is the main technique I use to keep the herbs I collect throughout the summer. While there are some that don’t dry well (basil, I’m looking at you!), the vast majority of the herbs I grow are easy to dry and store. I use a few different methods, depending on the end result I’m looking for. First, though, a few things to consider before you choose your method of drying.
Preserving actually begins with the harvest. Be sure you are harvesting the best of the best. There’s no point in harvesting poor quality herbs — they won’t taste as good or be as medicinally active, if that’s what you’re after. Check the plant over for disease or insects. Diseased plants should be avoided completely or removed, if they’re in your garden. Insects can be relocated, if there only a few of them, but an infested plant is not one you want to harvest. Physical damage is not a huge problem as long as the source of the damage has departed — if the leaf has been munched, make sure the muncher is gone — and the damage is not excessive.
Choose plants that are not covered in dirt or debris, as well. If you’re picking plants to dry, it’s better not to have to wash them. The excess moisture can mold your harvest before it has a chance to dry. If you’re growing your herbs in a garden, that means you really should mulch them to prevent mud splashes. With wild plants, choose clean subjects or, if you must rinse them, just make sure to dry them thoroughly before processing them. Roots, on the other hand should be thoroughly scrubbed and chopped into small pieces before drying. Breaking them down to smaller pieces will make them dry faster and they will be easier to work with when dry.
It is well worth your time to check these things as you are harvesting the plants and again when you bring them home. I once brought home a lovely bunch of wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) and hung it to dry. A week later, I discovered the little spider I had missed had webbed the whole thing and I had to throw it out. What a waste!
OK, so you have your plants, you’ve de-bugged them and made sure they are clean, now what? Drying herbs can be as easy or complicated as you care to make it. I, personally, being at heart a rather lazy person, make things as simple as possible.
Several years ago, we had a major renovation done on our kitchen and laundry room and had one of those ladder hatches added so we could access the attic. This makes drying herbs a breeze. Being a gardener, I have a huge collection of black plastic plant flats in the garage. I took about a dozen of them, scrubbed them clean and lined them with paper towels.
When I come home with plants, I spread them out on the trays, one plant to each tray with a label, and haul them up to the attic. It’s about two thousand degrees up there in the summer and most everything dries in a few days (except basil — that can take a week and a half no matter how hot it gets).
For Pete's sake, don’t skip the labeling part! A simple slip of paper with the name of the plant dropped in the tray is sufficient. Yes, you may be able to tell the difference between yarrow and mint once they’re dry but telling the different mints from each other is almost impossible. Ask me how I know this. (oops — ended up being a nice tea blend, though.)
Another method I use once in a while with larger herb plants is to make bundles of them and hang them on nails driven into the joists in the attic. If you use the bundle method, don’t use string or thread to tie your bundles — use rubber bands. The plants will shrink as they dry and fall out of a string no matter how tightly you tie it. I always spread a sheet under plants drying like this as the rubber bands can fail too, especially if it’s really hot. If you’re drying the plants to save the seeds, put a brown paper bag over the bundle before you hang it — any seeds that fall out will land in the bag. Those brown paper bags you get from lunch places with the twisted handles are great because you can hook the handles over the nail.
There are as many methods of passive drying as there are people who use them. One person I know of puts their trays of herbs in the back of their car and parks it in the sun! You can also spread them on screens and put them in an used bedroom. Whatever method you use, just make sure it is warm and dry and and dark and check on your plants every few days. If anything molds, get rid of it immediately.
There are 2 methods of active drying that can be used but I am generally too lazy to bother — the oven and a dehydrator. Both require work. If the plants are even slightly big, they must be cut down to fit on cookie sheets or in the dehydrator. The oven, set on the very lowest setting, must be watched constantly — someday I’ll tell you about the basil flambe I produced the first time I tried this method. Additionally, who wants to sit in the kitchen watching a hot oven in the middle of summer? I will say that once I got this method down, it produced the finest dried basil I’ve ever had — bright green and full of flavor and scent. Parsley worked well this way, too.
A dehydrator requires you to have a basic ability to manage machines — not my forte. ;) OK, I’m exaggerating but I’m not really in a position to talk about them as I’ve never used one. Have any of you had experience with dehydrators? PITA or god-send?
Herbs are dry when they crumble easily and the stems snap without bending. If any part of it is still moist, put it back to dry a few more days. Bottling herbs that are not dry will lead to the entire batch developing mold and having to be thrown out. Never, never, never keep molded herbs, even if it’s “only the top stuff”. Mold is now throughout the jar though you may not be able to see it. Toss the whole thing and sterilize the jar and lid in hot, soapy water.
I have found the best jars to store herbs in are canning jars. They come in all different sizes, are easy to clean, can be re-used indefinitely and are relatively inexpensive. Buy the real ones, the ones they sell for canning, not the “fancy” ones the craft stores sell. The fancy ones are nice if you’re giving herbs for gifts but a waste of money if you’re just storing them. I also use canning jars for making herbal concoctions like syrups and extracts. You can never have too many!
Thrift stores are good places to find used jars and bottles, just make sure you sterilize them when you bring them home. I’ve also found good deals at dollar stores. My all-time favorite glass jars have plastic screw-top lids and I got them all at a dollar store. They’re great when you’re making infused vinegars as the plastic lid won’t corrode.
There are differing schools of thought on how to store dried herbs, whether you should keep them whole or crumble them for easy use. I do both depending on the herb. The “keep it whole” school maintains that herbs begin to lose their virtue as soon as you mash them up. The “crumble it” school is all about convenience and storage space. Crumbled herbs definitely take up less space and, if all you have room for are small jars, and maybe not too many of them, go with the crumble.
The easiest way to crumble dried herbs is, of course, squooshing them in your hands. However, you are likely to end up with a lot of stems and not very uniform pieces, which is fine if that works for you. I tend to prefer a more uniform flake as I use a lot of my herbs in cooking and nothing quite jolts you awake like crunching into a large piece of oregano when you’re not expecting it.
My tools for crumbling herbs are a metal strainer and a large mixing bowl. Just rub the dried herbs through the strainer into the bowl. The strainer will catch any stems and you can just throw them out. If your bowl has a spout, so much the better — you can just pour the results into your storage jar.
If you leave your herbs whole, you will want to grind them up in small batches when you’re ready to use them. A small electric coffee grinder that is dedicated to herbs is a handy device. Don’t use one that’s been used on coffee — there is no way to completely rid it of the coffee smell and taste and your herbs will absorb it. I prefer the old fashioned method and keep a bunch of different mortar and pestles on hand. Takes longer but is much more satisfying to me. :)
Properly dried herbs will generally last anywhere from six months to a year but it depends on the herb and how well it is stored. Store them in a cool, dark place, preferably away from the heat and humidity of the kitchen. I have cumin seeds that are at least 5 years old and every bit as tasty as when I first got them. If it still smells good, tastes good and has good color, it’s probably fine. If there is any doubt, though, throw it out; no sense taking chances.
There are other ways of preserving your herbs harvest — freezing, preserving in oil, vinegar or butter, canning, making syrups, elixirs and liqueurs, making herbal salts, sugars and honey (is your mouth watering yet?) — but we’ll leave those topics for another Bucket.
I’m kind of on the fence about what topic to choose for the next Herb Bucket — maybe you guys can help by voting in the poll. Thanks much!
"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS"
EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE.
IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.