Every year we have more herbs in the garden than we can use up before the weather turns and the leaves get gross or drop off the plant. Most years we dehydrate (or dry) at least a little bit of our harvest in the last couple of weeks that we have nice weather so that we can enjoy the herby flavors of summer through the winter months.
Sometimes we put the herbs in the dehydrator on low heat, but this year our dehydrator was full of tomatoes at the time that our sage and rosemary needed drying. That’s OK, though, as hang-drying works wonderfully for these woody-stemmed plants!
To hang-dry woody-stemmed herbs (rosemary, lavender, sage, mint — there are many others), you will need string or twine, tacks, and your cleaned stems of herbs.
- Find a corner that doesn’t get much traffic. Near the ceiling put a tack about three feet from the corner of the wall.
- On the wall around the corner from that, put another tack near the ceiling and about three feet from the corner of the wall.
- String a string between those two tacks, keeping the string taught. You can tie it off with a knot, or use slip knots so that it is easier to re-use your string later without having to cut it.
- Cut several shorter segments of string to bind your branches of herbs.
- Tie one branch of herbs to one end of each string, and another branch of herbs to the other end of each string.
- Fling your string with herbs at each end over the string attached to your wall. The weight of the herb on each side of the string will hold your herbs over the string and they will not fall off. Do this for all of your herbs.
- (Optionally, you can direct a fan to blow at your herbs. Keeping the air circulating will help stop any mold from trying to grow. If you have heaters in your house, you probably don’t need to worry about this, but it’s not a bad idea even if you do.)
- Wait two weeks and then feel the leaves. If they are crispy, they are ready to be removed from the branches and put in jars! If they are still rubbery at all, they need to be left alone for longer to dry. Check at least once per week until all leaves are crispy.
Good luck and may all of your rooms smell like fresh herbs for a few weeks! 🙂