How to: Dry your own herbs

Being I had plenty of herbs outside this year, I decided to dry some to use all winter long (assuming I won't be able to keep any alive like last year- I've got a few other things to occupy me this winter.....have you met Jude and his proud big sister Joslyn? I'm sure they will keep me busier than last year- deep breath!)

I completely forgot to take a picture of the paper bags, but it isn't hard to explain.

Basically, you want a dark dry place. I tied the herbs in a bundle (smaller bundles are preferred, but I didn't know this at the time.....go figure- smaller bundles reduce the risk of molding and spoilage before they are dried. Use 3-4 stems for each bag)

After they are tied, place them upside down into a medium/large brown paper bag, and tie a rubber band around the top of the bag and the stems of the herbs. You want the herbs to be suspended upside down. This way any leaves that fall off will be caught in the bag, and the bag helps with a dark atmosphere. I think the dark is supposed to help retain color of the leaves too.

Now just place in a dry place and let them sit for a couple weeks. Pull them out of the bags and you are ready to make your own spice mixes. Or pull out your drug baggies and bag 'em per ounce. Don't have drug baggies? Buy a package of 100 at Hobby Lobby for around $2 :)

"No officer, I swear, its just parsley...." Ahh, I kill myself sometimes....



There are a lot of websites out there that suggest keeping the leaves whole until you are ready to use them. Apparently whole leaves retain more oils than a crushed leaf. I left whole leaves for my basil and parsley stash, but I went ahead and crushed them for the Italian mix.



I'm sure there is a ratio to follow, but I just combined a fair amount of basil, parsley and oregano. Now I have a fresh dried Italian seasoning to pull out of the cabinet!

I just love this little container too- I got it in a recent spending frenzy at Crate and Barrel :) Most of my other herbs/spices are in baby food jars- those little things are useful for so many things! I kept all of them and put random things in them all over my house.

If you haven't bought new herbs/spices in years, guess what? The ones in the spice cabinet have probably lost a lot of their original flavor- and simply don't work as well. Try replacing some and I bet you'll notice a difference.