Drying herbs

[lottie dolly]

honest,have searched ,I came back from lottie with lots of sage today,so thought about trying my hand at drying it out,have heard about putting it in the oven,and hanging up,the latter way must collect dust,mmm,do i wash it,take of the leaves first,advice welcome please,,

[Kleftiwallah]

Only put it in the oven at the very lowest setting or half an hour after the heat has been turned off. Any heat at all makes the sage STINK.

Wrap a large branch in paper and hang it up somewhere dry (low moisture) any moisture present will cause the sage to go mouldy.

Cheers, Tony.

[veggiechicken]

Tie the stems in bunches, put them inside a paper bag and hang upside down until dried.
(Wash it if you feel you must but make sure its completely dry before you put it in the bag.)
When the leaves have dried, take off the leaves

[lottie dolly]

thankyou very muchley both,i wondered if anyone has used home grown herbs in candles,would smell nice,i love smellis,but have to be carefull,as my synuses don't like it,hence the idea,right,dinner and bag up sage,

[veggiechicken]

Watch they don't catch fire, Lottie

[hamesy]

Microwave them for 30 seconds. I've done this countless times using parsley and thyme.

Just be careful they don't burn and catch fire though.

[DuncanM]

I dry mine in my brick oven

36-48 hours after the fire has died down I find its the perfect temp to dry them out.

[lottie dolly]

Watch they don't catch fire, Lottie

i did a test with a bit hovering near the gas ring,and yes they do burn,so scrap that one,keep it to food and soap,or a little brew,

[taff]

Depends on what you want them for.
I've frozen mine this year instead of drying [well I did dry some for crumbly herb rubs], done some big bunches of sage and rosemary, just because i found a lot fot he flavour was lost in the drying, so am freezxing to see if that helps.

[lottie dolly]

i dried some in the oven last night,poped the on 2 shelves,after it was turned of,did a pizza tonight with some sprinkled on,you could taste it,nice,not over powering,all i got to do is blitz and jar,then repete the process on some more,this will now be my prefered method,as it's very simple,
thankyou peeps for all the input,

[veggiechicken]

I pick sage fresh when I need it Forgot - rosemary and bay too! and thyme! In fact the only herb I dry is oregano/marjoram!

[northepaul]

I hang my herbs -if you want to protect from dust, you can hang them in paperbags - I use brown ones. They take around a month to dry, depending on the herb.

[areia]

im gonna hijack this thread if i may ....basil,,,, how do you dry that ive tried microwave ,,,burnt first lot ,,second lot in micrwave,,, lost smell, and drying in cupboard and leaves a still not dry enough to store

i can pretty much dry most herbs but basil is proving a challenge to me

[lottie dolly]

im gonna hijack this thread if i may ....basil,,,, how do you dry that ive tried microwave ,,,burnt first lot ,,second lot in micrwave,,, lost smell, and drying in cupboard and leaves a still not dry enough to store

i can pretty much dry most herbs but basil is proving a challenge to me

hijack all you like,i done with it for now ,you raise a good point,will wait with you for answers,just in case i get some growing next year

[ohbeary]

Grow your Basil in sandy compost with minimum water but plenty , tomato feed, cut whole stems and hang over Rayburn/Aga or other hear source