HARVEST THOSE HERBS!!



You can check out any book on herbs and look up a section on drying herbs, and 
you will find maybe a page or two or three! That is because there is not to much 
"to-do" about herb drying, although it is different from plant to plant. You 
want to choose your herbs when they are just about to flower, when buds have 
formed but not opened. Gather them in the morning before the sun hits them, but 
yet after the dew has dried. Pick only the tips of the plant (about 2-3" is 
good) keeping your plant is good shape, and thus producing more branches for 
later harvesting.

The old-fashioned way of drying herbs is to just hang bunches of each different 
type in a warm spot, or near a heat source (like the pot-bellied stove or in a 
window). Although this is a cute way of displaying herbs (and flowers), it is 
not the best way for they become dusty and may loose their flavor over a period 
of time. If you choose to hang your herbs to dry, make small bunches and 
rubberband them at the top and place them in a brown paper bag and secure at 
top. Hang until herbs are dry. Herbs are dry when they crumble off the stem. 
After crumbling off stem, place in a lidded  dark colored jar for up to one 
year. You want to use a dark jar because light causes the herbs to fade and 
loose flavor.

OVEN DRYING is one of the more efficient way to dry your herbs. Place your herbs 
on a cookie sheet in a thin layer and place in a VERY low setting oven. If your 
herbs are turning brown, then the oven temp is still to high. If you are drying 
your herbs in a humid condition, then stir your herbs a bit until they are dry 
and for the first few hours of the drying process, have the temp up a tad bit.

FREEZING HERBS is my own favorite way of keeping my herbs. It seems to retain
the flavor better and I never have had any herbs turn moldy on me! I take and 
place the herbs on a cookie sheet and place in freezer just long enough for the 
plants to freeze. Then I place them into plastic storage bags until further use. 
By freezing them flat an then placing into bags, the herbs are "separated", so I 
can just use the amount I need at the time. If the herbs were just placed in a 
bag together, they would freeze together making it harder for separation. Some 
herbs that keep better by freezing are the basils, chervil, dill leaves, chopped 
chives, lemon verbena leaves, scented geranium leaves, tarragon, rose petals, 
and spearmint. Another way to freeze your herbs for cooking is by making herb 
butters. These butters can be a mixer of herbs or one herb. You can also make 
herb ice cubes to be added to your cooking later.

MICROWAVE preserving is one that I would not recommend for it has a tendency to 
burn the leaves and "cook" the flavor from the herbs. Some would say it is 
because I don't do it right- and the are most likely to be right! I think that 
the watts of my microwave are to high and I can't get them lower! The way I have 
done it is placing them herbs on the turntable and setting the microwave on the 
lowest setting possible for your own machine. Let it go for about 3-4 minutes. 
This will vary according to each microwave and by how much you are drying at a 
time. So, keep checking, and when they are dry, process storing like mentioned 
above.

Remember to check your stock over the year for freshness of your herbs. If they 
smell moldy or look moldy, pitch them. And remember that you will have a new 
stock source in a year, so get rid of the old and put in the new! Good luck with 
your herb preserving! It is really very easy!