Once the weather starts to cool, it’s time to bring in any herbs that you want to keep before they freeze. I use a simple method to dry my herbs to save them for later use. Drying herbs takes little effort except for patience.

Herbs can be dried a variety of ways. In the past, it was typical to just tie them in bunches and hang them upside down. You could them clip off what you needed and leave the rest there. Some people like to use a home dehydrator or oven to dry them. They can be dried in the microwave too. You can read more about various methods here.

Leaves of lemon balm that have been rinsed and are drying.

I pick over the herbs and make sure the leaves I am drying are clean and undamaged. Rinse them off and let them dry. I simply layer them between layers of paper towels and put them somewhere to dry. You don’t want to do to many layers on top of each other, or they will dry very slowly and you can get some that wilt rather than dry. I put them on top of the fridge – it is slightly warm up there and they are out of the way. It takes at least a couple of weeks for them to dry completely. If they are not completely dry, they will mold.

Layers of herbs and paper towels – on top of my fridge.

Lemon Balm

Fresh from the garden

I tried growing lemon balm (Melissa Officinalis) for the first time last year, and am planning to take it out of my herb bed next year. It is a member of the mint family, and likes to take over all available space. I may try it in a small separate bed next year. It is a perennial, so it comes back on it’s own.

Lemon balm can be used wherever you would use mint. It has a clean flavor of lemon. It is used in tea and to make soaps. You can candy it and use is as toppings on drinks and desserts.

Parsley

The other herb I am drying a bunch of this year is parsley. Parsley is a common herb, so gets used in a lot of dishes, from soups to pastas. It is easy to grow and adds a bit of fresh flavor when used garnish. You mostly see it used in central and southern European recipes.

For ease of handling, I leave it on the longer stems until it has bee rinsed and dried, then clip off the leaves.

Other Herbs

I grew basil this year and made pesto with it. You can read about that in this post. I used it while cooking several times this summer and after making pesto, there wasn’t much left.

I usually grow sage, which is also a perennial, but the lemon balm choked it out, so I will have to start fresh next year with that.

Occasionally, I grow cilantro too. It has a distinctive flavor that not every one likes, so I use it sparingly in my cooking.

Preserving the herbs after drying

I put some of my herbs in glass jars in my spice cabinet so they are handy for cooking. If I have a really good harvest, you can keep them in the freezer for about a year. I like to keep my dried herbs whole and crush them when
I use them. To me, the flavor is stronger.