How do you harvest/preserve your herbs?
 

I am new to gardening, and was hoping someone could help me! My parsley is starting to come up, the basil is quickly following, and I need to know the "proper" ways of harvesting my herbs and preserving them so they don't spoil.

Any tips/ideas/suggestions would be a GREAT help!!! :stars:

Thanks in advance, Ms. Daisy.

I dry mine in my dehydrator....strip the leaves off when dry, and put them in glass bottles. Some people tie theirs up and hang them up to dry. I usually do basil, sage, and mint. My rosemary bush keeps green most of the year, so I only use it occassionally. I love to crush up the basil leaves and put them in homemade noodles during the winter. Love to use the sage in dressing.

We pull whole plants in the Fall that won't over winter and hang them in the barn to dry. Then we strip off the leaves and bag them. :) We also make up quite a lot of pesto and freeze it.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm pesto hehe When harvesting the parsley, can I cut off all "ready" stuff? Or do I need to leave a few?

We just over winter the parsley, not sure how much cold it can tolerate but ours stays alive all winter with a nice mulching.

Most years we don't get enough drying weather to dry herbs so I ended up getting a dehydrator a year or so ago. I trimmed the parsley stems short and dried the parsley in the dehydrator. The parsley was stored in a cardboard box and kept cool in the pantry. It lasted all winter. Ever so often I would cut some up with kitchen shears and put it in a spice bottle to use when cooking. It stayed nice and green also.

Usally I just dry and store in jars. Have simply put in freezer bag, and used right from the freezer, Parsley.

Thanks for the great tips guys!

I usually have an abundance of oregano so I dry mine on a clean old screen, cover with cheesecloth and leave it in the back of my car to dry (have an SUV). If it's smaller amounts, I use the dehydrator like everyone else. I store mine in plastic containers and leave them in the freezer.

I cut the stems off of the oregano & basil plant, leaving a few so the plant will continue to grow. I wash them off & let them dry. I strip the leaves & place them in a paper bag (school lunch bag size). I then put these bags in the back of my car (Firebird) and let them dry. Then I store the whole dried leaves in pint-sized glass canning jars. I crush the leaves when I am adding them to a recipe.

Parsley grows year round in my area. I just snip off a few stems from each plant when I need it.

I dry lots of herbs in the microwave - much faster and much less electricity than running the dehydrator. I strip the leaves of whatever (thyme, basil, cilantro, oregano, etc.) and put them on a piece of paper towel. Microwave on high for 30 seconds or so (depending on quantity and size of leaves). Fluff, repeat adjusting the time for how crispy they're getting. Crumble and store in jars.

And, you can reuse the paper towel over and over again....
Elizabeth

We dry them by either hanging them or putting them in a paper bag in the van.

Last night as harvesting some chives... just cut and freeze them small,if you dry them they taste more like hay.

I'm going to harvest some parsley today = ) I never knew you could dry them in the car . . . seems like as long as it's a low-humidity area they will dry fine? Maybe I don't need a dehydrator after all! hehe

http://chefbud.com/wp-content/upload...06/parsley.jpg

Used to have parsely overwinter in a protected area. I'd cut the green in the fall and into the freezer. Add a little to spaghetti sauce- tastes like summer.

Aside from drying, I also freeze herbs in ice cube trays with a little water. I put together a variety of mixtures (stew, soups, sauce, pot roast) and once frozen, place the cubes into labeled bags. Just pull out however many you need, throw into the pot and let it cook down.

When I have a lot of basil (which is often) I wrap several sprigs in aluminum foil and put it in the freezer. It looks horrible thawed but works great in soups, stews and sauces because it's still very flavorful.

What about making an oil or vinegar from them?

I made the mistake of letting my basil flower last year! I went out to pull more off one day, and noticed flowers instead. haha What do you guys do to avoid this?

Bfly - I really like your idea about freezing them in ice trays. Will have to try it.

Farmrgirl - I'll need to try the aluminum foil trick as well. = )

All this talk about herbs has me wondering - what to cook for dinner? Hmmm . . . I feel like chicken tonight, chicken tonight. lol

I was hoping someone else would toss this idea in. It is a great way to save herbs and a real time saver if you mix herbs and spices for specific recipes.

What do you use as a herb-to-water guideline? For instance, should I fill up the tray w/ mostly herbs and just use a little water? Or vise-versa?

Before the first freeze, I put the plants in big brown paper bags and they dry naturally, then crush the leaves and put in jars. (basil, dill, parsley, oregano)

Basil, harvest the plants, take the leaves (lots of them) fresh- off and grind them with olive oil into a paste and freeze in small zip lock bags for pesto or seasoning sauces. My stuff from last year is still bright green and very tasty. Last week I added a tablespoon of the basil to a vinegar/oil pasta salad, very nice, fresh tasting.

I'll usually put a few sprigs of herbs on the refrigerator door with a magnet note holder we found at a garage sale. When I need them, I just break or snip some off (depending on how dried the herbs have gotten) and use it. The herb garden pretty much stays constantly green so drying them isn't something we do a lot of unless it's just for ease of use. If for some reason I do want t store them, then I usually just hang them up somewhere until they are dry and then strip the leaves off the stems and store them in bags or jars.

I fill the tray with 50-75% herbs, add water, stir, and freeze. Basically, make sure all of the herbs are covered. After freezing, if you notice some of the herbs are not as well preserved just use them first.

Most I dry in the dehydrator, but there are exceptions.

Sage, thyme, and rosemary dry very well when left out at room temperature.

Basil turns black if you let it air dry or put in the dehydrator. It freezes well, as several have said. I use the microwave, as another has said. Be cautious when drying in the microwave: if things get too dry, they can catch fire!

I have also dried things in a car parked in the sun. Put the herbs on trays, cover with newspaper or paper towels, set in the car and crack the windows. Check daily!

Store dry herbs away from heat and light in order to retain their flavor and color.

Thank you dear :grin:

We picked a bunch of peppermint over the past few days. You want to pick early in the morning before the sun cooks off the essential oils. We dry on tarps in the shade. Take them in at night or cover them. Usually takes 3-5 days to fully dry them.

Mike