Drying your own fresh herbs is a great way to preserve your summer herb garden for years to come! It’s that time of year where we are growing gardens and fresh herbs in pots and I absolutely love being able to harvest fresh herbs from my backyard.
One of the best ways to preserve fresh herbs to use for later, is to dry them.
If you are wondering how to dry fresh herbs, then I hope to break it down for you in this article! The process is super easy and you only need a few supplies.
Drying Herbs Tips and Tricks:
- Make sure your fresh herbs are not wet at all. Usually, I don’t even wash mine, I just harvest them and shake out any dirt and remove any pieces that might seem old or dirty. If there is any moisture in the leaves, mold might grow during the drying process. So if you do wash them, make sure to leave them in the sun for a little while before tying them up to dry.
- If there are bugs on the herbs, I shake them out and leave them outside for a few minutes to give the bugs a chance to crawl off once they realize the plant has been picked.
- If you are wildcrafting or foraging for herbs, please make sure that you do so responsibly and always leave plenty of the plant in the ground so that it can regrow and flourish again. Never take more than you need.
Supplies You May Need to Dry Herbs:
Scissors – to both harvest your herbs and to cut your twine.
String or Twine – to tie around the herbs and hang them to dry
Fresh Herbs
How to Dry Fresh Herbs
I promise this is super easy! Let’s get started.
Harvest the Herbs
First thing’s first, you need to harvest your herbs.
Go to your plant with a pair of scissors and gently snip the branches that you want to harvest. I like to look for the younger, smaller branches that still have tender stems. The older stems tend to be very woody and more developed.
Cut the string & lay out your supplies
Cut your string to be approximately 16″ long.
Gather a small bundle of a few of the stems of herbs. You don’t want too many because you want there to be enough space for air to get in between the leaves and dry them. To make it easier to tie and hang, put the bottoms of the stems together.
Lay the bottom of the stems over top of the string near the middle.
Tie the string on the herbs
Tie the string around the stems like you’re tying your shoe.
Pull the two ends hard so that the string is tied tightly around the stems. Wrap it around again and pull the string tight so nothing falls out!
Tie the string’s ends into a loop
Tie the two ends of the string together so that your string creates one giant loop. This is how you’ll hang the string up so the herbs can dry for a few weeks.
Hang to Dry
The herbs need to dry in a cool place out of the sun for several weeks until they’re dry.
I hang mine up in the kitchen, but you can hang them anywhere where they will be out of the sun!
Leave for 3-4 weeks or until completely dry. The leaves should easily crumble when they’re dry enough.
Once dry, store your herbs in a jar out of the sun and enjoy using them in cooking, teas, or making medicine with them!
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Hey, I'm Victoria!
I'm so glad you're here, sweet mother!
My goal is to inspire you to remember your primal roots & live a WILD life in alignment with nature. On my blog I empower you to use herbs and natural remedies to keep your family healthy, teach you how to eat a nourishing, traditional foods diet, and inspire you to raise your babies consciously and respectfully.
