Drying Herbs From The Garden

Over the weekend, David transplanted our herbs to a new location. We planted them last year in our main vegetable garden, but needed to move them to make way for our new raised beds and revamped garden plans this year. The herbs had grown really well and were starting to come back strong, so we decided to bring some of them inside to dry.

I've seen so many cute images on Pinterest of herbs hanging in kitchens, so I wanted to do the same with several bunches of thyme and oregano. I just tied the bunches together with kitchen twine and David made a garland of sorts to hang on the Hoosier cabinet. I love how it turned out!

To dry herbs, all you need to do is hang them upside down until they are completely dry then remove the leaves and store them in a container. My herbs were grown organically, came from my own back yard, and weren't dirty, so I didn't wash them before hand. If you do wash them, just be sure they are totally dry before bunching together. I've read that some people find it useful to put each herb bunch in a paper bag to catch any dry leaves that fall off but I've never tried that myself.

We saved some dried basil from our garden at our old house several years ago, and it is still good! So apparently dried herbs can last years if dried and stored properly. Dried herbs wouldn't necessarily go bad, but they may lose some flavor and potency over the years. But our basil is still going strong!

Have you ever dried your own herbs? What method do you use?

~Tammy

Shared with Home Sweet Home, Farmgirl Friday, Tuesday Muse, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, What To Do Weekends, Tweak It Tuesday