Drying Fresh Herbs: What I've Tried and What Works

Herbs are one of those plants that can be preserved in their natural form without initially having to remove leaves from the stems.  In the gardens during growing season, they are not just elegant and beautiful, they also provide freshness to our meals in the way of flavor. 

I have dried herbs two different ways and while both did in fact dry them, I noticed a difference in the flavor.   I have hung them to dry and I have also used a dehydrator and hands down, in my opinion, hanging them to dry preserves the flavor much better. 

Going back to the basics is sometimes the best approach.  There is a reason, we have always seen herbs hanging to dry in photos and it is not simply because they look nice and give a certain ambiance.   

Last year, I decided to use my dehydrator and yes, it was much faster.  I placed the stems with the leaves still on them in the dehydrator and before I knew it, I had dried herbs. I proceeded to remove the dried leaves and put them in a glass jar. 

One thing I noticed right away was that there was really not much scent to them.  I figured it was because they were fresh out of the dehydrator and thought maybe they needed to rest in the jar for a bit and eventually those scents would become more prominent. They did not.

I also noticed that when I cooked with any of them, on the rare occasion when I actually cook, the flavor was just not there.  Drying herbs was something I had done for a long time and never had this issue and that is because I had always hung them to dry.

Determined to figure out the most efficient way to preserve my beautiful herbs, I did some research trying to figure out what happened.  I should have done this beforehand, because not just one source, but dozens and dozens or articles explained why drying naturally was the key.

Without getting into the entire scientific reasoning, essentially hanging herbs to dry upside down, allows the natural oils in the stems to flow to the leaves and drying them too quickly can evaporate the oils. This is the flavor that we all want to preserve and makes complete sense.  Yes, hanging herbs takes longer but the reward is that even after drying, you still have that flavor.

Slow and steady makes the difference in this case.  I also considered the sun would be like drying them using the oven or dehydrating method, so I avoided it.  Always hang your herbs in a cool, dark space and if you are hanging them outside, hang them in the shade.  

It is amazing to me the changes that come with growing versus preserving in this case and just how unique plants are.  Tomatoes for instance thrive in the sun from start to finish even if you want to dry them.  You are not going to cut a tomato plant and hang it upside down of course, but the fruit can be removed and placed in a sunny spot if you chose to finish ripening and sun-dried tomatoes is self-explanatory. 

Some plants require more sun, some require a lot of water, some are more finicky and do well under certain strict conditions. Yes, basil, I am thinking of you in particular with this last one. 

The point is trial and error are sometimes the best way to learn.  Soil is different depending on where you live, heat, humidity, drought, excessive rain etc. will dictate how each of your herb plants will grow, the best spot to grow them, and how much attention each will require.

That is the hard part but once you have figured that out and find yourself with lush herb plants, the next step is drying them.  The best part about this is that you do not need an elaborate system to do it.

For the herbs that I want to dry, I try to cut them with a bit of stem at the bottom, which gives me a nice space to wrap my twine around. You don’t want to do more than simply gather them at the stem and let the rest hang loosely.

I will find a darker area of my kitchen to hang them in and dry until they are ready to be nestled into a glass jar with a lid.