So you’ve spent the summer growing and enjoying a great range of natural fresh herbs for your kitchen. You may be using fresh herbs as a medication or ‘pick me up’ drink. For whatever reason, with the fall approaching fast, you find its too late to start drying fresh herbs to help you warm up those cold days ahead.

Although many people initially shy away from preserving herbs the task is very rewarding and it’s not as difficult a task as many people like to make it out to be.

How to Dry Herbs

Essentially for the ‘home dryer’ there are two practical methods to dry fresh herbs.
Firstly there is ‘air drying’ and then there is ‘heat drying’ fresh herbs.

To many aficionados air drying make take longer, but results in a more deeply flavoured herb, losing less natural oils in the process.

The alternative method, heat drying herbs, is quicker, but some suggest that the heat used in the process can cause the herb to lose some of its flavour and oils. However, each method will give you aromatic dried herbs that can last throughout the winter and spring if stored properly.

Tips For Drying Fresh Herbs.

Here are some common tips that can help anyone dry fresh herbs for themselves and their families. Solving that age old problem of drying and storing fresh herbs that will keep for a long time.

Choose Your Herbs Wisely.

This is the number one rule for the newcomer to herb drying. There are certain herbs that work better for drying (or freezing fresh herbs) than others.

For instance herbs that contain a lot of moisture will be more difficult to dry. So, in your early experiments at drying and storing fresh herbs it is very important for you to choose the herbs that do not contain a great deal of moisture.

Herbs such as oregano and sage are considered to be good ‘drying fresh herbs’ because they generally have very little moisture present in its natural state.

Use The Right Drying Techniques

Next to choosing your herb wisely the biggest things to remember about drying fresh herbs is that the actual process used must be carefully completed to make sure that the herbs are properly dried.

One of the common failures experienced by many when attempting drying fresh herbs is they are not drying the herbs in a way that allows it to retain its natural properties.  See Tips For Drying Fresh Herbs and heat drying fresh herbs.

So by taking a little time to learn some simple techniques you can soon be providing yourself, at a minimal cost and minimal effort, tasty fragrant natural herbs.

Remember you have just put a natural product through a measured process. As a result the dried herb, will over time, slowly lose their flavour and potency. So if you are using herbs that you have stored for a time don’t forget to add a little more than if you were using the same herb straight from the ground or one that has been dried only for a week or month.

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