Drying Herbs

[Carie]

I have had an herb bed outside my kitchen door for 4 years now, but I haven't ever tried to harvest it. This year I am going to learn how Anyway, I am wanting to dry some sage, oregano and savory....separately (to be stored independent of each other). I am going to be using my oven since I don't have a dehydrator and it isn't warm enough here to do it outside (although I plan to try that in July and August!). So how long do you think it would take to dry them out? I can set my oven on warm....should I leave them all night? I want to make sure that they are really dry so that I don't lose my harvest. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Blessings,

Carie

www.misscarie.blogspot.com

[Violet]

Carie, you can, but it will be expensive to run your stove. It has to have the door propped open the whole time to let the moisture excape. You also put a fan on the side of the door to circulate the air. The heat just goes out your oven, as you can imagine. In a pinch, for some herbs you can microwave dry them on paper towels. Oh, and some work fine if you bundle in small bundles and hang them up to dry.

If you could afford one, a dehydrator would cost you about $50 for a decent one and could help save in energy costs over the long run. I suggest the Nesco/American Harvest 500 watt one from Walmart or other places. The Ronco are really worthless. There is no fan or thermostat. To have a decent one you need a fan, heat source, and a thermostat. It should be opaque, too, so it will keep light out and save nutrients and color in your foods.

Anything else I can help with ,let me know.

 

[Fritz_Monroe]

I haven't done the herbs you want to do, but just dried some cilantro by tieing them into a bundle and hanging them in the kitchen. They aren't completely dry yet, but they are getting there. We have a lot of parsley, so will be doing that the same way.

 

I had one of the Ronco dehydrators, but didn't like it. Ended up selling it on Craigslist just a couple months ago.

[Carie]

Ok, I will see about just hanging them. Thanks for the info on dehydrators. I will see about working one into the budget.

Blessings,

Carie

[Shandy]

Find a place to hang them from your ceiling. Wrap them in small bundles, and tie with a string. Then get a small paper bag and put the herbs into the bag, tying the bag shut right over the place where you tied the bundle together. Make sure the bag is a little bigger than the bunndle so the bundle isn't all scrunched up in the bag...it needs air to dry.

 

The bag will keep your bundle from getting dusty and will catch any of the precious herb leaves that fall off during drying.

 

Depending on the size of the leaves, it should take a couple months for the plants to dry out enough to use and store.

[westbrook]

oh and if there are any seeds... the bag catches them too!

 

 

but.. take a couple of bundles of different herbs, use twine or raffita and thumb tack or hook them to the side of a cupboard or hand from the window cill... not good to use but oh so pretty for while..

 

till the spiders find them and you have cob webs and dust and... LOL!