I've really enjoyed my fresh herb collection that I've amassed on my little front porch - I'm pretty bummed though, because my apartment at college is way smaller! I won't have space for all these plants!
Thankfully, I've found everyone good homes - Some italian parlsey and basil are going to live at my house, and my peppermint plant, but everything else is going to be given away! Before I do that, of course, I had to steal as much as I could ;)
So I went to the store and bought some of these...
... and now, I have these!
From left to right: dried peppermint, Catnip, Fennel and Parsley
I was a little nervous that I would mess up, but overall it was totally easy!
I have to admit, I've never harvested my own herbs before! I did have a lavendar plant, but I was too afraid to pluck the leaves off en masse. But the peppermint plants truly needed a trim! It's seriously overflowing it's container, spreading runners everywhere and looking a lot less pretty than when I bought it. And, my love of parsley and fennel was too great to keep me from plucking those. The catnip was an afterthought- it's already started to dry, and I had some crazy vision of making and selling cat toys. Who knows!
Anyway, after plucking the mint, I had a ton!
But it all dried up in no time. All you need is:
- A microwave. Mine is an ancient hand-me-down, but it gets the job done!
- Herbs (self-explanatory)
- Paper towels
- An airtight container to store your dried herbs in.
Put the herbs in the microwave between two paper towels. Cook on high for 2 minutes, then check for dry-ness. If they're not dry, cook on high for 30 second intervals until they're done.
Before drying:
After drying:
Different herbs have slightly different drying times. For me, the mint dried up in 2 minutes, to about half size. Parsley took 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and dried up to 1/4 size. The fennel took 2 minutes and 2 30 second intervals, and looked more or less the same.
I can't wait to use my fresh herbs to season soups and make tea at school this winter.
=o Oh this is awesome! Thank you for sharing this!! I think its high time for me to buy some herbs. :3
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