Drying Fresh Herbs

Dry herbs have a great importance, not only for the culinary purposes, but also for the medicinal uses. Drying fresh herbs is not at all a tedious job and this process can be carried out on fresh herbs bought from the grocery shop or the ones that are harvested from your herb garden. There are both traditional and modern ways to dry fresh herbs. To start with, the herbs must be clean and fresh before you dry them. Herbs should be washed in cold running water before you start the drying process. Let us discuss some popular methods of drying fresh herbs.

Drying Fresh Herbs - Methods
The foremost thing to do before drying the fresh herbs is to clean them properly. However, cleaning process is different for each type. For heat drying, stems of the herbs are discarded and the leaves are used for drying. In air drying, the herbs are tied into bunches and then kept for drying. Before drying, ensure that you remove the molds, insects and dead leaves from these fresh herbs. Basically, there are two methods of drying fresh herbs. They are as follows;

Air Drying
Air drying is the traditional way of drying fresh herbs. Drying by this method does not require any type of machine or equipment. Also, it is advisable that these herbs must not be kept in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can burn the leaves. Instead tie four or five branches and hang them upside down indoors in a warm and dry place, where there is ample ventilation. Keep these herbs tied for around two weeks. Everyday ensure that they are getting dried completely and check if any part of the herb is not receiving proper ventilation. Sage, oregano, thyme, dill, and rosemary are the herbs that are dried using this method.

Heat Drying
Heat drying is a good way to preserve fragile herbs. Fragile herbs are those which cannot withstand the harsh drying techniques like air drying. Heat drying machines are available in the market. Microwave oven or traditional oven can also be used to dry fresh herbs. Let us take a look at the methods of how to dry fresh herbs.

Microwave Oven
Careful attention is needed to dry fresh herbs using the microwave oven. However, it is a very easy and simple process. For drying herbs, lay two sheets of kitchen roll and put the fresh herbs on it. Over these herbs, lay another layer of kitchen roll. Set the microwave oven at 'high' and put these herbs in the microwave oven. Keep these herbs inside the oven initially for one minute. Then check the herbs and move them constantly. After one minute, keep these herbs in the microwave at 30 seconds bursts. Repeat this process until you complete two minutes.

Oven Heating
Preheat the oven at 110 degree Fahrenheit. As specified in the above method, cover the herbs with a muslin cloth. Bake the herbs for about 40 minutes. After that the herbs become dry and crumbly.

Well! This was all about how to dry herbs. After drying fresh herbs, it is equally important that you store them in a correct way. It is recommended to store them in the air tight containers or zippered pouches. When you want to use these dry herbs, just crumble them and add them to your recipe. Bouquet garni is also an effective way to add these herbs in your recipe. In bouquet garni, the required herbs are tied in a cheese cloth and added to the recipe you are cooking.