As much fun as growing a herb garden can be, it is not fun when the herbs overgrow and you have more fresh herbs than you can use. What can you do in this case? Well I have recently learnt how to oven dry fresh herbs.

This method works best for fresh herbs such as your  basil, parsley and oregano. I love how much flavor and fragrance the dried herbs ended up with. I do not believe any store bought herbs herbs come close to your own home dried herbs.

 

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• fresh herbs
• paper towels
• baking sheets
• kitchen towel
• air tight containers
• silicone mats (optional)

You may have to get up early in the morning so you can cut your herbs before the sun stresses them if you are growing them out in the garden. All herbs should be washed, shook out and laid out to dry on paper towels. Make sure you do not bruise the leaves as you pat them and dry them or you will release all the flavors.

Before placing on the baking sheets in single layers, remove all the leaves from the stems. Place the trays on the middle rack and do not fully close the oven door to allow the oven to vent (jam a kitchen towel in the door). At 175 degrees F parsely and oregano will take about 60 minutes to dry. Basil takes a little longer up to 80 minutes.

The herbs are dry when they crumble between your fingers. Your oven dried herbs store well in air tight containers or jars for up to 12 months in a cool dry place, however for the best flavor use within 6 months.

You can follow step by step instructions on Daily Pea blog, here…

How to Oven Dry Fresh Herbs

.
You can watch the video below, how to oven dry herbs…

.