It is always a good idea to hand pick your herbs during their peak seasons and dry them yourself. This way you make sure that the herbs are fresh enough and that all good hygienic procedures were followed correctly. Herbs can by air dried, which is the easiest and the cheapest way to preserve your herbs. It is better than sun drying as this method preserves the essentials oils. The process is slow but effective. This method can be safely applied to most herbs.

Now let us see what is the best time for picking your herbs. Well, early morning hours are the best, This is the time when dew is still resting on the plants. With sunrise, dew evaporates, which in turn causes the plants to lose their essential oils along with precious constituents.

The drying process is quite simple, but certain precautions must be followed to preserve the important plant chemicals and oils.

First, select the right time as we mentioned above and cut your herbs carefully with your hands or a knife. Remove the dried and unhealthy leaves. Rinse and shake well your herbs to make sure there are  no dust particles and insects in there. Spread the herbs on a large paper towel.  Tie each handful of branches in small bunches, using a rubber band. Make small holes clean dry paper and put the bunches into the bag. Onion bags just work fine for me. Hang the bags upside down in a warm airy place.

People usually ask me, how much time is good enough for the herbs to get dried correctly. Well, it depends on factors like seasons, outside temperature, humidity etc. In summer, the process can be quite fast. A general rule of thumb is to keep the herbs in open air for at least two weeks. Keep on checking every couple of days to see the progress. Most important is to make sure the herbs are completely dried up. Because even small humidity in the leaves will destroy it when stored.

Storing Herbs

Store herbs in air tight containers of suitable sizes and label them. It is not a good idea to store your herbs in ground form as their life expectancy is greatly reduced and they are less effective with passage of time. Don’t forget to label your containers, clearly writing the herb name and date of storing. Keep your containers away from light, direct sun and humidity.