Sunday, September 09, 2007

Drying Herbs from the Garden

I dried the herbs I picked yesterday. Here's how it's done.


I use a dehydrator. This is the one I own - I have owned several over the years and this is a pretty good one for the money. I had a Ronco that I saw advertised on TV once and that thing didn't last at all - but that was years ago and they may be making them better now. They also have more industrial ones - but this one is fine for home use. It is made by American Harvest and is expandable to 20 trays. I use 6 trays with it.



First - wash the herbs. They may appear clean, but they have a lot of dust and dirt on them and you don't want that to end up in your food.


Next, dry them using a salad spinner - it will reduce the drying time.


One tray of oregano.


I did two trays of Basil.


One tray of Dill.



And two trays of Parsley.


Turn the dial to the herbs setting and plug in.


Here it is set up and running.


And if you think you can skip the washing step - look at how much dirt was left in the sink after I took the herbs out!!!!


And here are the dried herbs.

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