Drying & Storing Herbs

Summer is winding down.  Most of our garden is done, the tomatoes are hanging on though and I still have a TON of basil growing.  I've been interested in trying to dry some of our herbs in addition to freezing them and using them in my other canning endeavors.  When I was contacted by Infinity Jars, I decided that this would be the perfect time to give it a go.

Cut above where the leaves Y on the basil to encourage continued growth

The first thing that you need to do is harvest your herbs.  Do this in the morning so that the essential oils created overnight aren't burned off by the sun.  If, like me, you are still wanting to use some fresh herbs you need to take care to harvest them properly in order to not cause damage to the plant.  With basil, this means cutting above the "Y" so that new shoots can grow.  I'm trying to train my rosemary into a topiary of sorts so I cut off shoots near the bottom, and my thyme is just spilling over it's pot so I gave it a good trim.

Next, you will want to tie your herbs into small bunches.  Don't make the bunches too large.  This prevents air flow and will make the drying time take longer.  After you have the bunches tied, find a place to hang the herbs where they will receive plenty of air flow.  You don't want them in a cool or damp space.  I strung mine up above our basement stairs like a clothesline.

Then you just wait.  You want the herbs to be crispy to be certain that they don't mold after storing them.  I let mine hang just over two weeks.

I recently read on Mother Earth News that whole leaves maintain the essential oils better than their crumbled counterparts, and since the 250mL screw-top Infinity Jar was so big, I chose to leave my basil leaves whole.  I took care to remove them from the stem first, and then gently packed them into the jar.

For the thyme and rosemary, I slid my fingers down the stem in the opposite direction of the leaf growth to remove the leaves from the stems.  Then I stored them in the two different 100mL screw-top bottles from Infinity Jars.  I still have plenty of room to add more before the herbs go dormant or die off.

Infinity Jars are airtight and the deep violet glass blocks out harmful rays of light while permitting two beneficial rays to still filter through.  These jars even kept a tomato from getting moldy or drying out!  These qualities make Infinity Jars perfect for dried herbs and your essential oils too!

Disclaimer: I received free jars from Infinity Jars as a sample to try.  All opinions and content in this post are my own. Erika Bault is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.