Drying for winter.

When I was a little girl, my mom and I spent a lot of time in the garden. Now I don’t know if I ever actually helped her but I like to hope that I did. One of the tasks that I remember was drying herbs. Along the back of our little plot in the side lot of our driveway was a ridiculous amount of oregano. It always seemed to expand every year. I remember our neighbors taking some, I remember some being taken out to be given to the women’s club plant sale and yet it never seemed to grow smaller. I love the way that it smelled and it was the only herb my mother kept. It was what made my mother’s spaghetti sauce so amazing and when I home I would always take one of the jars of the dried herb to where I was living. I still remember eating spaghetti at college and thinking, not enough oregano. When I moved into my home and started working on my garden, oregano and black berries where my two major requests that I could bring to transplant.

Now the oregano is planted in the side garden by my drive way. I plan to move it into the back yard eventually but for now that is where my little bit of my childhood sits. We all have that thing that we remember that is weird to anyone else but makes perfect sense to you. Now where I work I have been opened to beyond oregano. I know about growing basil, keeping thyme, sage, and herbs that most don’t think you can eat like rose and calendula petals. Now all these things are available in the summer and fall to eat fresh so how do we have them for the winter. Well one you can buy them in the store or you can dry them yourself. In fact most herbs are pretty low maintenance plants once you get them going so they are pretty and easy for even the brownest of thumbs.

The first thing to do is cut them. You can separate them now and lay them flat in a single layer on a clean surface or you can hang them upside down and dry them. For things without stocks like rose petals, younger plants of sage and loose cuttings of what other plants I am working with I take a piece of wax paper and put it onto a cookie sheet and place the herbs on top of it. Once dry put into a clean and dry glass container with a clear label on it.

Drying oregano and sage 

The other option is to hang them. This works great with oregano, thyme, older plants of sage, marjoram, and calendula.  You can leave the ends with the herbs on them or you can pull a few of the ends off leaving a good solid stock. Tie a rope around the ends in a great clump and hang in a dry but warm place. My mom used to hang them on hangers then in the mornings stick them outside bringing them back in that night. At work I hang them over my fire place. At home they are currently drying on my pot rack over my island. You will want to tighten the rope around them from time to time because as they dry they do shrink and will fall out of the rope. Once they dry clean them off the stalk and stick them in a glass jar with a good lid.

My neighbor uses brown paper bags to dry her herbs. If you have a lot to dry you can also place them in a mesh laundry basket (available at the dollar store) and hang in a dry and warm location. Don't want to dry them, freeze Them in a ice cube tray with a bit of olive oil. 

Once again something easy to do at home and oh so tasty.