Friday, October 3, 2008

Harvest & Dry Your Herbs

There is nothing better then growing your own fresh herbs, but with winter approaching we know these guys have to go into hibernation too. When herbs are flowering they are at the peek of their flavor and perfectly 'ripe' for the pickin' and dryin'. This is the easiest and tastiest DIY ever- all you have to do is cut the herbs (like mint, rosemary, sage etc...) in small bunches, hang them upside down in small brown paper bags, place in a dark cabinet (with some air circulation) or dark room and within a few crisp fall days your herbs are ready to be bottled for the winter. Keep them in a opaque bottle or dark cabinet so the sunlight doesn't ruin their color. This is 100 times cheaper and more delicious then buying store bought & packaged herbs.
YAY! Go Organic!

Photo: Jeffery McCullough Photography

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love growing herbs! I don't even dry or eat most of them, I just love having them around the yard. I have rosemary bushes so old that their branches are twisted and gnarly-- love them! When I was in California I saw people using rosemary as border plants along walkways, I thought I might like to try that.

Miss Voodoo said...

hey Susie-
Rosemary is my favorite! Your bush is like my dream bush!!! I eat from my herbs everyday- I learned some macrobiotic cooking methods and they use certain herbs to help with the digestability of what you eat. Like using bay leaf whenever cooking beans. :)

Anonymous said...

We're starting a new veggie garden-- wrong time of year with the cooler weather and less sun but whatever, that's us!-- I hope to plant more herbs for salads and soups and stuff. I used to love rosemary in roasted chicken, but I don't eat chicken anymore. Rosemary's really delish with roasted potato! I love sage and basil and oregano, too.