5 Tips to drying herbs at home
Drying herbs is a rather simple process that requires a bit of prowess. Most herbs have very little moisture. This makes the dehydrating process much simpler once you’ve bought or harvested your herbs. Drying herbs is a food preservation strategy that makes economic sense since these herbs are expensive to buy at the grocery stores. Your dried herbs will also taste much better than the store-bought herbs since they are newer and spicier.
Growing your herbs gives you the ability to choose the tastiest ones. In most cases, store-bought dried herbs are flavorless. Drying your herbs at home not only helps preserve the flavor of the herbs but also ensures you are getting the best quality.
Here are a few tips for drying herbs at home:
1. Harvest the herbs
If you grow the herbs in your garden, you will start by harvesting them. To retain as much flavor, it would be best to cut the herbs in the mid-morning hours after the morning dew has dried and before the sun has burned off the essential oils in them. You should select healthy herbs when harvesting and remove any sickly, dried up or wilted leaves.
2. Choose the herbs you wish to dry
Once you learn how to dehydrate herbs, the other important step would be to select them. Opting for locally grown or organic ones is a good idea but going for herbs from your garden is best. If you decide to harvest your natural herbs, washing them is not necessary since some of the oils may be lost in the process but if they are filthy, it is important to rinse them a little. It is also important that you shake them well in case there are insects attached to them.
3. Decide on what method to use
Next, choose the drying method that works best for the herbs you want to use. also select a method that’s most convenient for you. There are a couple of ways of drying herbs including air drying, drying them in the oven or drying them in the microwave. Another idea would be to use a product from VaporizerVendor.com - Atmos Jump Kit which can hold up to 0.5g of dry herb material. It has a heating chamber that is made using medical-grade materials, unlike some cheap vape pens that sell at the same price. You need to be cautious when purchasing one since some sellers have fake jumps.
4. Process them the right way
Herbs should take about 2-4 weeks to dry before they are ready to process. After obtaining the dry herb bundles, you should begin to remove leaves or needles from the stems then you can either discard the stem or save them for other purposes such as making soup. You could decide to process the herbs into small pieces using a food processor, crumbling them with your hands or you can choose to leave them large. Minimal processing is preferred so that their fragrance and flavor is not lost before they are cooked. From here, crumble the amount you need into recipes when preparing.
5. Store the dried herbs for later use
Finally, the herbs are ready to use after they are dry. In most cases, you will want to store them for later. Place the crumbled herbs into small airtight containers and keep them in a relaxed and dark place and also remember to label the container. Stored herbs can last for up to 12 months, but they might lose their flavor when stored for a long time.
It is important to note that dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh herbs, so you will have to use less dry herbs when cooking.
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