The Low-Tech Art of Drying Herbs

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Harvesting herbs is an odd blend of glamour and strain.
Ultimately, there is great satisfaction in the large, filled harvest baskets.

-Margaret Brownlow, Herbs & The Fragrant Garden (1957)

A bumper crop of basil, lemon balm and savory is wonderful, but what you do with it after you bring it in is every bit as important as the harvest itself.

Although I preserve herb flavors in jellies, vinegars and pesto, air-drying is still my favorite way to store the major part of summer’s herbal bounty. I prefer this method over others because it reduces large quantities of herbs to amounts that are easy to store (10 pounds of fresh herbs equals about 1 pound of dried herbs) and easy to use. And my methods, as low-tech as you can get, are accessible to anyone.

Low-tech does not equal surefire, however. I often meet gardeners whose experiences drying herbs have been devastating. They harvested their favorites and dried them, and ended up with brown straw. I have devoted many years to refining the art of drying herbs and I maintain that a wide range of home-dried herbs — including those not usually recommended for drying, such as basil, retain their colors and distinctive flavors for a surprisingly long period of time if certain principles are followed.

The problem with most instructions for drying herbs is that they are too generalized and don’t allow for differences in herbs and how they’re harvested. The secret to success is to treat herbs individually according to their needs and to dry them as fast as possible after harvesting.

I divide herbs for drying into two basic groups: those such as mints (with the exception of apple mint) that are quick-drying and can be dried by the traditional bunching method, and those such as lovage, parsley and basil, which don’t dry well by bunching and should be chopped, then laid to dry on trays or screens. If followed correctly, this approach guarantees a product as green as the living plant. No more limp, yellowed parsley; no more brown, tasteless basil.

Those herbs that really don’t dry well, such as chervil and salad burnet, can be preserved in vinegars or only used fresh.

Timing is Everything

Success begins in the garden. The importance of harvesting herbs at their peak of flavor cannot be stressed often enough. Overripe herbs become stalky as the plants direct their energy toward flower and seed production at the expense of their leaves. The longer after their peak you wait to harvest most herbs, the less flavor they will have. The right time varies according to the specific herb and the part that is harvested. Foliage should be picked when the plant is beginning to form buds, at which time the leaves have the highest concentration of essential oils. Herbs such as German chamomile (Matricaria recutita), whose flowers are used for teas, should be harvested when the blooms are newly opened.