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How to Dry Herbs

Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 10:51AM
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Whether you grow your own herbs, or bought more from the market than you can use at one time,
drying herbs can be an easy and practical way to store them for later use.  

Below is a list of many common herbs that can be air dried using the following simple instructions.

Harvesting
There are a wide variety of herbs that can be dried, and of course they all have different recommended stages at which they should be harvested. To make it easy for you, a chart that shows this information is available by clicking on How to Harvest Herbs

Using a very sharp knife or garden scissors cut your stems.  Do not pick them as it will cause bruising on the stem and a place for decomposition to start.  Leave an extra inch or two at the bottom of your herbs for bundling. Harvest your herbs in the late morning when all the dew has had a chance to dry. This helps to prevent mildew. Visually inspect the herbs.  Remove any bugs or damaged leaves or flowers with your sharp knife before drying.

Bundling

Open Method
Using a rubber band near the cut end of the herbs, gather 5 to 7 stalks together and attach together. You want your bundled end to be very secure as stalks shrink during the drying process. Yet you want the other end loose enough to ensure air flow through out the bundle.
*Note:  Green Onions and Garlic are hung by the tops with the bulbs hanging down.  The tops can be braided together for hanging.

Anise
Basil
Bay Leaves
Celery Leaves
Chervil
Chili Peppers
Chives
Cumin
Dill
Fennel
File Powder (Sassafras)
Garlic
Green Onions
Marjoram
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Savory
Tarragon
Thyme

Drying
Hang your herbs by the rubber band or string onto your drying rack. Drying times vary from a few days to a couple weeks.  You will know your herbs are dry when they crumble easily.

Locate your drying rack in a dark warm room, garage or walk in closet.  Or you may place your herbs in a covered porch or patio if herbs are bundled in paper bags even out side under a shade tree will work if you are willing to bring them inside every evening.  Your goal is to keep herbs out of direct sunlight yet in a place with good air circulation.

Your herbs are dry when the leave easily crumble.  

Seeds will be released during the drying process place newspaper under your drying rack to keep seeds off the floor and to make gathering easier for next years garden.  

If you dried your herbs by the bag method your seeds should be already collected for you in the bottom of the bag. Simply cut the sides off your bag where the wholes begin. Fold the bottom of your bag together.  Tape your bag closed and label your bag for easy storage and planting next spring.

Storing
Store your herbs in small glass jars with tight fitting lids.  Keep the jars out of the light, away from heat and out of your refrigerator.

Herbs - Tips

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Basil

Stir into chopped fresh tomatoes with a dash of olive oil for a delicious bruschetta topping.
Sprinkle over pizzas, roasted vegetables or tomato soup.
Add to tomato sauces for pasta.
Mix with olive oil, tomato purée and garlic to make a salad dressing.
Bake whole baby courgettes in olive oil, chopped tomato and Basil.

Chives

Add Chives to cooked dishes at the last minute to preserve their delicate flavour.
Stir into mashed potato with a little butter and grated cheese.
Stir into cheese sauce at the end of cooking for a delicate flavour.
Sprinkle onto scrambled eggs, omelettes, quiches and potato salad.
Sprinkle over salads and soups as a great garnish.
Stir into soured cream for a tasy dip.

Coriander

Stir into chopped tomatoes with a little lemon juice and garlic for a refreshing salsa.
Great in Mexican dishes such as chilli con carne.
For an Indian raita, stir chopped or grated cucumber, Coriander Leaf, salt and pepper into natural yoghurt.
For a Thai style dressing mix warm creamed coconut with lemon juice and stir in Coriander Leaf, Crushed Chillies and chopped spring onions.
Stir Coriander Leaf, Parsley, fresh green chillies, Garlic and onion into cooked rice to make Mexican arroz verde.
Add Coriander Leaf to breads, stuffings and sauces and sprinkle over spicy or creamy dishes at the end of cooking.

Dill

Stir into a white sauce before serving.
Sprinkle over fish with some lemon juice before grilling.
Stir through cooked new potatoes or carrots with a knob of butter.
Mix with olive oil, vinegar, mustard and honey as a dressing for salmon.
Use Dill as a refreshing alternative to parsley in omelettes, quiches and salads.

Marjoram & Oregano

Add to cream, white wine, stock and chopped onion for a creamy herb sauce for chicken or pork.
Sprinkle olive oil, lemon juice, salt and Marjoram over chicken or lamb before roasting or grilling.
Sprinkle onto roasted vegetables.

Mint

Mix with vinegar and a little sugar to make mint sauce for roast lamb.
Sprinkle onto peas and new potatoes, together with a knob of butter.
Stir into cooked couscous with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Sprinkle Mint onto green salads.
Add to yoghurt with diced cucumber for a refreshing raita dip.

Parsley

Combine with breadcrumbs, grated cheese and garlic, then spoon into flat mushrooms, drizzle with olive oil and bake until golden.
Mix with butter and lemon juice, then stir into cooked vegetables and new potatoes.
Stir into white sauce just before serving.
Stir fry carrots in a little butter and add garlic and Parsley.
Delicious with fish.
Sauté mushrooms in butter, garlic and a good tablespoon of Parsley.

Rosemary

Sprinkle onto lamb or pork before roasting.
Sprinkle onto potatoes and parsnips before roasting.
Make a rich red wine, orange and Rosemary gravy for lamb or duck.
Sprinkle Rosemary over barbecue coals for an aromatic smoky flavour.
Rosemary makes a fresh and flavoursome marinade for meats and oily fish together with olive oil, Garlic and lemon juice.

Sage

Add to finely diced apple and minced pork for tasty meatballs.
Add to apple sauce for more flavour.
Mix with breadcrumbs, chopped onion and butter for a really tasty stuffing.
Sprinkle over pork or chicken before roasting.
Combine with grated cheese and breadcrumbs as a topping for grilled fish.
Add to sausage and leek casserole for extra flavour

Tarragon

Make quick sauces for chicken, fish or pasta by stirring into cream and white wine or into savoury white sauce.
Stir into creamy chicken or turkey soup.
Sprinkle over glazed carrots for a distinctive flavour.
Sprinkle into omelettes or salads.

Thyme

Combine with grated lemon zest, crushed garlic and butter, then spread over chicken breasts and wrap in Parma ham before cooking.
Add to casseroles and stews, such as Irish stew or Lancashire hotpot, for a warm, aromatic flavour.
Sprinkle over roasted vegetables or potatoes.
Marinate chicken or fish in olive oil, lemon juice and Thyme before grilling.

Pepper Pasta

Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 09:45AM
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Ingredients

A quick light pasta meal for a hot summer evening can be made with red peppers:

4-5 unpeeled garlic cloves
2 large peppers, cored and chopped into small pieces
Juice of a lemon
2 tbs of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions

Boil the unpeeled garlic cloves in a small pan of water for 15 minutes until soft.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the chopped pepper and cook gently until soft.
Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper.
Squeeze the garlic from their skins into a liquidiser and add the contents of the frying pan.
Blend until smooth.
Good served over pasta shells or spaghetti and witha a crisp green salad.

Cauliflower Cheese & Spinach Pasta Bakes

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 06:46AM
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Ingredients

  • 850ml milk
  • 50g plain flour
  • 50g butter , plus 1 tbsp
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 100g extra mature cheddar , grated
  • 25-50g blue cheese
  • ½ tsp finely grated nutmeg
  • 250g penne
  • 1kg Cauliflower (2 medium ones), cut into florets
  • 750g Spinach (whole leaf), if using from frozen, squeeze dry
  • 25g toasted pine nuts

  For the Tomato Sauce:

  • 4 garlic cloves, 3 sliced, 1 left whole
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 700g jar tomato passata (or you can make your own)

Method

  1. For the tomato sauce, cook the sliced garlic in the oil for 1 min, then add the passata. Season, half-cover the pan and simmer for 20 mins until rich.
  2. Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce. Put the milk, flour and 50g butter into a pan. Heat, whisking non-stop, until smooth, then bubble for 3 mins, stirring to make sure any flouriness is lost. Cool for 5 mins, then stir in the mustard, most of the cheddar, half the blue cheese and half the nutmeg.
  3. Boil the penne and cauliflower for 8 mins in salted water until the pasta is almost cooked and the cauli is tender. Keep 2 tbsp water from the pan, then drain. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add the whole garlic clove, spinach, remaining nutmeg, salt and lots of black pepper. Stir for 2 mins, then remove the garlic clove.
  4. Set aside 300ml cheese sauce and mix the rest into the cauli and pasta. Divide half the tomato sauce between 6 dishes and top with some spinach. Fill with cauli mix, top with more spinach, then the rest of the tomato sauce. Top with the cheese sauce, cheeses and pine nuts. Cover with cling film, cool and chill for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month. To cook, defrost if frozen. Heat oven to 200C/ 180C fan/gas 6. Cook on a baking sheet for 18-20 mins until golden and bubbling. Good with green salad or garlic bread.

Chinese Scrambled Eggs With Garlic Chives

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

1 1/2 - 2 ounces garlic chives (to make 1/3 cup chopped)
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons light soy sauce or up to 1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil

Cooking Instructions

Wash and drain the garlic chives. Remove the hard ends and any wilted green leaves at the top and chop into 1-inch lengths until you have 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons). Lightly beat the eggs.

Add the soy sauce or salt, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and pepper.
Heat a heavy skillet on medium high heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lifting the frying pan so that the oil covers the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the chives. Stir-fry briefly, then add the beaten egg mixture. Reduce the heat to medium and gently scramble the eggs. Remove them from the heat when they are just done but still moist. Serve hot.

Farfalle (pasta) with Black Cabbage

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

1.1kg black cabbage leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled
250ml extra virgin olive oil
300g farfalle parmesan
freshly grated sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Cooking Instructions

Serves 3-4 Remove the stalks of the black cabbage leaves. Blanch the leaves in a generous amount of boiling salted water along with 2 cloves of garlic for a few minutes only. Drain well. put the blanched garlic and the black cabbage into the food processor and pulse-chop to a fairly coarse puree. In the last couple of seconds, pour into the processor about 75 ml of the oil. This makes a fairly liquid, dark green puree. Crush the remaining garlic cloves with a teaspoon of salt and stir into the puree, along with a further 75 ml of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the farfalle in a generous amount of boiling salted water, then drain thoroughly. Put the pasta into the sauce and stir until each piece is thickly coated. Pour in the remaining olive oil and serve with parmesan.

Galette of Potatoes and Exotic Mushrooms

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

50g/2oz butter or vegan margarine
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp fresh sage and thyme, finely chopped
450g/1lb mixed mushrooms, sliced
450g/1lb potatoes, very thinly sliced (like making potato crisps!)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
melted butter, vegan margarine
or olive oil for brushing

To serve:
cranberry or redcurrant sauce
sprigs of parsley

Cooking Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 230C/475F/Gas 9.
  2. Melt the butter or margarine in a frying pan and gently fry the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes.
  3. Mix in the chopped sage and thyme and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes.
  4. Grease a 22cm/9in loose-bottomed flan ring and layer up the potato slices and mushroom mixture, starting and finishing with a layer of potatoes and seasoning each layer as you go.
  5. Brush the final layer of potatoes with melted butter or margarine and cover with foil.
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 1-1¼ hours until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Let the galette stand for 5 minutes before loosening with a palette knife and sliding onto a serving plate.
  7. Warm a little cranberry or redcurrant sauce through gently in a saucepan and spoon onto the plate around the galette.
  8. Garnish with parsley and serve with seasonal vegetables and a green vegetable stir fry.

Note: Use a mandolin or food processor with slicing disk to slice the potatoes very thinly so that they cook more quickly.

Kale - Tips

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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A member of the cabbage family, kale comes in two forms: kale, which has smooth leaves, and curly kale, which has crinkly leaves. Curly kale is the most common of the two.

Instead of forming a head, the leaves grow in a loose rosette at the top of a stem. The leaves are green, sometimes tinged with blue or purple, and their flavour is strong and distinct.

Choose the best

Go for heads of kale on the smaller side, as they will be more tender. The leaves should be crisp, with a bright colour.

Prepare it

Break the leaves from the stalk, and trim away the tough centre stalk. Wash, then shred or chop.

Store it

In a perforated bag in the fridge. Kale becomes increasingly bitter the longer it is kept, so eat within two or three days.

Cook it

Kale is most commonly boiled. For whole leaves, rinse, then put them in the pan without shaking the water off, cover, then cook for up to 2 minutes, until wilted; drain thoroughly.

For chopped or shredded leaves, put in a pan of water 1cm deep with a pinch of salt, then bring to the boil and simmer up to 5 minutes, until wilted; drain thoroughly. Pan fry (up to 10 minutes).

Pumpkin Lasagne

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

90ml/3fl oz extra virgin olive oil
1 kilo/3lb 2¼oz pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced
250g/9oz fresh ricotta cheese
paprika to taste
nutmeg to taste
salt
fresh ground black pepper

For the béchamel sauce:
55g/2oz butter
55g/2oz plain flour
350ml/10 ½fl oz milk
or use readymade bechamel sauce
250g/8 ¾oz green lasagne pasta
25g/1oz Parmesan cheese, grated

Cooking Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
  2. Put the olive oil in a large pan and cook the diced pumpkin for one hour or more on a very low heat. Stir frequently and keep covered. The pumpkin is ready when it is completely tender.
  3. Season pumpkin with plenty of paprika, nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper and a little salt to taste.
  4. Add the ricotta cheese while it's still on the heat. Stir well then remove from the heat. Cover and allow to stand.
  5. To make béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan without letting it fry, add the flour little by little, stirring regularly to avoid lumps.
  6. When the flour has evenly absorbed the butter, continue to stir and let it cook.
  7. Add the milk a little at a time until a smooth, thick and creamy sauce is obtained. Season.
  8. In a large ovenproof dish, arrange a layer of lasagne pasta, cover with pumpkin mixture, pasta again, pumpkin mixture and finish with a layer of lasagne pasta.
  9. Pour the milk on top and allow it to drain through to all pasta layers.
  10. Bake for 10 minutes in hot oven, remove and spread the béchamel sauce on top.
  11. Bake for a further 10 minutes or until all the milk has been absorbed by the pasta and the lasagne looks cooked and slightly crispy. Take care not to burn the pasta or the béchamel on top, which has to stay white and creamy.
  12. Remove from oven, sprinkle with parmesan and serve immediately. 

Ratatouille

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

2 large aubergines
3 medium courgettes
2 medium onions
2 red or green peppers
4 large tomatoes, or 1 x 14 oz (400 g) tin Italian tomatoes, well drained
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 level tablespoon roughly torn fresh basil
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Cooking Instructions

Begin by wiping the aubergines and cutting them into 1 inch (2.5 cm) slices, then cut each slice in half; the courgettes should be wiped as well and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) slices. Now put the whole lot into a colander, sprinkle generously with salt, press them down with a suitably sized plate and put weights (or other heavy objects) on top of the plate. Let them stand for about 1 hour ? the salt will draw out any bitterness along with excess moisture.

Meanwhile chop up the onion roughly, deseed and core the peppers and chop these up too. Skin the tomatoes (plunging them into boiling water for a couple of minutes is the best way to loosen the skins), then quarter them, take out the seeds and roughly chop the flesh.

To cook the ratatouille, gently fry the onions and garlic in the oil in a large saucepan for a good 10 minutes, then add the peppers. Dry the pieces of courgette and aubergine in kitchen paper, then add them to the saucepan. Next add the basil and seasoning of salt and pepper, stir once really well, then simmer very gently, covered, for 30 minutes. After that time add the tomato flesh, taste to check the seasoning and cook for a further 15 minutes with the lid off. 

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