There are herbs that are grown in the garden for the simple fact that they are both beautiful and fragrant. Many herbs will be harvested to serve a practical purpose. This includes aromatics, seasonings, medicinal use, and more. In this case, drying garden herbs is required to preserve them. There are several traditional drying methods including using a bag, tray, or just the air. Here are some tips on how to dry fresh herbs from your garden.

Some herbs with beautiful flowers also have seeds that are useful. To preserve the seeds, start by letting the flowers dry on some paper. When they are dry, roll up the paper and empty the loose seeds into a container for storage. If you want to keep the herb leaves, a little more work is required.

In order for herbs to be dried out, the stems have to sit in water for a while, first you have to take off the flowers and roots from the stalk and make sure they are all clean and free of any debris, then into the water they go so anything that was left over will be loosened, last they need to be dried by being left out on a linen or paper towel.

Once the stalks are dry, place them in a paper bag with the root end sticking out of the bottom. Tie this end up and set the bag right side up on it’s base with the plant then being upside down. Nature will move the oil from the stems down into the plant’s leaves, giving them their natural flavor or smell.

Within a week or two the brittle leaves will be easy to crumble, although the air needs to be moderately dry. Try not to break them at this point. Instead, seperate them and store them in an airtight jar. When you are ready to use them you can put them into potpourri or even crumble them to use as seasoning.

There’s no need for the stalks but the leaf stems and leaves in the process of tray drying garden herbs. Clean the leaves as described above and arrange them on the tray without overlapping. Secure the tray in a dark, well ventilated room and turn over the leaves once a day to make sure both sides of the leaves are evenly dried. Then they’ll be perfect for use in a couple of days.

If you’re short on time, turn to your kitchen microwave for help. Absorption will be better if you place the herbs in the microwave on top of a paper towel or paper plate than a microwave-safe one. You can microwave for a few minutes on medium power. The variety and quantity of herb, in addition to your kind of microwave, will determine the time you need to cook, but 2 to 3 minutes is good for most uses.

The dryness of the leaf can be easily checked by just placing it between your fingers and rubbing it gently. When the leaf easily crumbles, it is ready for use. If it is not ready, keep trying thirty seconds at a time until it reaches usability.

Drying garden herbs in a microwave is not always the easiest or best thing to do. Sometimes instead of drying out the herbs, the heat settings on your microwave may cause you to cook the herbs instead. When the moisture has been dried out of the herbs, the microwave oven still runs. This may damaged your microwave. Microwaves work by shaking up water molecules in foods and this causes them to heat up and dry out. You may want to experiment with different settings on your microwaves to see what works best with your unit; however, you may want to try a different method of drying.