Mid-morning is the best time of day to collect fresh herb leaves. If you harvest them too early in the morning the leaves may still have dew covering them. When harvested later in the day the heat may be too intense and cause your herbs to wilt before you have a chance to bring them inside. After picking your herbs brush off any speaks of dirt or debris and check for any stray insects.
Many of the soft-stem herbs such as chives, chervil, basil, borage, mint, parsley, salad burnet, summer savory and tarragon lose most of their flavor when dried and should be used fresh whenever possible. However, many other herbs such as bay, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme which have woody stems can successfully be dried for longer term storage. To dry herb leaves there are a number of methods that can be employed.
Air Drying
Gather the stems of the herbs together into a bundle. Wrap the bottom of the bundle either with string or a rubber band. Hang the bundle of herbs upside down, indoors in a warm and dry room out of direct sunlight. A convenient method is to use a metal shower curtain hook to hang up the bundles of herbs and suspend the hooks on plastic coated wire closet shelving. The herbs are ready to be used when the leaves are crisp and crumble easily when crushed between your fingers.
You can remove large leaves from their stems and dry them individually. To make your own drying screen you can use a staple gun to attach a piece of window screening to a wooden picture frame. Inexpensive wooden picture frames can be purchased at most home supply stores. Mint, bay and basil are examples of some of the large leafed herbs which can be dried using this method.
Microwave Drying
Place a single layer of herbs onto a paper plate and place the plate inside the microwave. The herbs may take up to 2 minutes using this method. Check to see how they are drying at 30 second intervals. You may try drying basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, tarragon and thyme in your microwave. You may not want to use this method for drying most culinary herbs as they may become too dry and lose most of their aromatic essential oils. Herbs being used for dried floral arrangements or decorative potpourri can be successfully dried using this method.
Food Dehydrator
Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of your food dehydrator. Fleshier items such as roots, fruits and vegetables can also be dried in a food dehydrator. Food dehydrators come with between 4 and 10 shelves so you are able to dry a large amount of material at once.
Oven Drying
If you don’t want to go to the expense of purchasing a dehydrator you may dry most herbs in the oven. Place the herbs onto a cookie sheet, then place the sheet in the oven on the lowest setting, around 185 degrees Fahrenheit, until the herbs are dried. The herbs will take anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours to completely dry depending on the thickness of the material being processed. Periodically turn the herbs over to ensure that they dry evenly on all sides. Check the herbs often to make sure they don’t burn or become overly dry.
Refrigerator Drying
Place herb stems or large herb leaves into a lunch size brown paper bag. Fold the top of the bag over and close it with a staple. Place the bag on one of the shelves in your refrigerator but not in the vegetable or fruit bins as these may be too humid to allow your herbs to properly dry. This method of drying will take a few weeks, check the herbs after every week to see how your herbs are progressing. Herbs that dry well using this method include basil, dill, mint, rosemary and tarragon. After the herbs are thoroughly dried remove them from the paper bag and store them in an airtight container away from direct sunlight.
Dried herbs should be used within six months. After six months time dried herb leaves will have lost most of their aromatic properties and will be useless in your cooking. Prior to using dried herbs place them in a mortar and crush them with a pestle or crumble them between your hands. This helps to release their fragrant essential oils which is the element you want incorporated into your recipes. Dried herbs and spices must be reconstituted in some kind of liquid such as oil, water, vinegar or broth before being added to recipes or as part of the cooking process