Drying Herbs

I grow and dry Herbs to use in the kitchen. These bundles will fill my herb jars for the year!

Step 1: Gathering

First, collect the herbs from around the yard or buy them from the farmers market.

Sort the herbs into piles.

Any leaves that falls off while I am sorting I place into a drying pan for later.

Step 2: Stringing Up the Herbs

I use whatever string I have available to tie the herbs up.
(I have also used a rubber band to tie the bundles together in the past).

Cut the string about 10 inches long. Wrap the string around the stems of the bundle a few times, then tie a knot with a loop on the end to hang.

*I tried to keep the bundles about a handful in size. I had 3 oregano bundles, 1 white sage bundle, 1 catnip bundle and 2 mint bundls.

When you Bundle the stems together place any loose leaves into a pan. Wrap the string around a few times and Pull tight!

The last picture shows the drying pan. I will use these for herb oils and other blends.

Step 3: Hang and Dry

Herbs should be ready in a few weeks!

Finely grind the herbs and place into bottles until needed.

I also love the look they add to the house!

Comments

[DoctorWhoIsHere]

can these dry within 1 or 2 days?

[DavidS68]

My brother use to hang his outdoors. Is this good or bad? Also, do you hang them in a darker room or in a naturally lit room? Based on my brother's past, naturally lit is ok. I don't know though, so please respond :)

[Jennprice33]

I usually leave mine in my craft room with natural light and natural air flow which seems to be fine. I have never placed them in a dark room, so not sure how that works. thanks

[Brutus Ultimatum]

Reminds me of Skyrim :D

[ashleyjlong]

I'll be drying a bunch of rosemary for a project using this method --thanks for sharing!

[devbert]

What's the temperature and humidity of the room you hang them in? Is air flow good or bad? Have you ever had them spoil before drying?

[Jennprice33]

I have them in a room with a great cross breeze and a fan. I have never had them spoil by hanging. But I have had a few moldy ones when I used to dry large quantities in trays.

[FreddieLBarlett]

On that note, where do you store them afterwards?

[Jennprice33]

I store the herbs in glass jars in my pantry.

[Jennprice33]

I store my oils either in my root cellar or pantry.

[Amber3tucker]

How do grind them? By hand? Coffee grinder?? And how fine do you grind them?

[Jennprice33]

I use this to grind the herbs. I grind mine fine for cooking, but you can do grind yours to your own preference.

[devbert]

Thank you for the information, this is something I've always wanted to do.

[SarahKarina]

Great hack! I will try this!

[steampunkpotato]

"mainly" cooking purposes ;)