How to Dry the Herbs From Your Home Herb Garden
Change in our lifestyle seems to be constant. We’ve evolved from natural production of food to large scale industrial production of it, from home-cooked meals to ready-to-eat fares. And now, like a vicious circle, we are heading back to our good old ways. We are adopting healthier options in eating, and prefer to be able to decide on the quality of food that we consume. This is what has led to enthusiasm in more and more people to grow their own home herb garden- a refreshing and interesting activity which goes a long way in ensuring us that fresh and rich ingredients form a part of our life.
Growing one’s own home herb garden is addictive in nature. A novice in this area would very soon find himself an ardent producer- so much that it most often results in more herbs than he could normally include in his diet. Therefore, it has become a common practice today to save the excess produce for future use by methods such as drying of herbs, freezing them or use of preservatives.
Excess production of herbs can be frozen and packed for future use. This is a convenient way of preserving, and can be done by anyone who has a freezer available at home. This also ensures we are able to use the herbs in their fresh form. Using preservatives such a salt and vinegar is also very popular.
Unlike the other options, drying of herbs is not very easy. It is a process to be carefully done. Or else, the precious growth from your home herb garden could easily be ruined.
-First step is to prepare the herbs for drying. Select healthy stems from the available lot, which have good leaves. Remove all the dry foliage to minimise the decay process.
-The next stage is to select around half a dozen from the selected herb shoots. Tie each bunch of stems together with a string.
-Make several holes on bags, and Put each bundle into individual bags. Herbs could also be dried without use of bags. Make sure that not too many herb shoots are crowded in one bundle. This would hinder proper drying process.
-Hang the bundle in cool and dry place. The drying area should not be subjected to sunlight.
It is wise to occasionally turn the bundles and change their arrangement, so that all the stems are dried in an even fashion.
This is the drying process for your home herb garden through natural means. Today, there are several artificial measures that could be used to dry your herbs. Dehydrator is an electric appliance that is being widely used to dry herbs artificially. Ovens and microwaves are also largely used to dry herbs. Though these appliances are convenient for the purpose, they are not as effective as natural drying of herbs.
So don’t worry if your home herb garden has produced more than you can consume. Just dry them for future use and take pride in them just as much!
