Tips and Tricks for Drying or Freezing Herbs
The neatest ways to preserve herbs.
Cooking with fresh herbs from your own garden is wonderful. Having their flavor available in the cold months is the next best thing, and it's easy to achieve through drying or freezing herbs as the growing season winds down.
Hanging a bundle of herbs upside down to dry looks delightful but there are some downsides. As the plants dry they will begin to flake off onto counters and floors. Plus, spiders find bundles of upside-down herbs a great foundation for their webs. So if you are planning to dry a fair amount of a few varieties, you may want to try something a little neater. Here's what to do:
Place your bunch of stems upside down in a brown paper lunch bag. Write the name of the herb on the bag, then tie or clip it closed and hang it up. Any drying leaves that fall off will stay inside the bag, keeping your space neat and your efforts more productive.
This works beautifully for most plants. Basil, not so much. It will dry, but it turns a nasty dark color. I still dry some basil, for dishes where color doesn’t matter. But for the most part I freeze basil. Here's how:
Remove basil leaves and place them loosely onto a wax paper–lined cookie sheet in the freezer. Once the leaves are frozen, put them in any freezer-safe container. It is so easy to just grab the amount you need and crush them right into your dish.
I also dry lavender in the same way as basil.
Chives, too, do really well frozen. Roll a bunch of chive's long, thin leaves in wax paper. Once they're frozen, then wrap the bundle again with some plastic. At cooking time it's easy to slice off what you need.
Dried celery leaves can replace pepper in many recipes. I use a dehydrator for celery leaves, but a very low temperature setting on the oven can also quickly do the trick. Then just store on the shelf with your other seasonings.
Even easier to make is citrus zest. Grate the clean skin of lemons or oranges, and spread out onto a cookie sheet. Let it dry by air overnight and it is ready to store and have on hand as you need it.
