How to Dry Herbs

Drying herbs can be useful for both spices and incense type herbs. it has to Be Done with care though, so as to preserve the maximum potency of the herbs. (for flavor, sent or medical property's)

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Herbs to be dried
• food dehumidifier
• sting

1. The first thing to do is to make sure that your herbs are free from diseased leaves or bugs.

2. 

   Next you have 2 options for drying them. The first is to use string and tie the herbs into fist sized bundles and hang them in a warm place to dry. The best places are in living rooms near the heater vent or in outbuildings like tin sheds. A warm place with good air circulation is needed to prevent molding. Leave them there for about a week to 2 weeks to dry.

3. 

   The other option is to use a food dehydrator like the kind used to dry jerky. This can be a good option as it can dry your herbs in a matter of hours rather than days However these can run at a hotter temperature than would be best and it will destroy some of the essential oils in the leaf. This can be fixed by turning them to a temperature below about 115 Degrees F or if it is not adjustable propping the lid open a little to allow it to run cooler.

4. 
   herbs in the dryer

   After your herbs or plants are dry they should be stored in sealed glass jars or plastic bags. do not leave them out in the air or they may absorb moisture from the air and mold.

Tips & Warnings

• try not to dry at above 115 degrees F
• if it starts to mold or smell bad in storage it still had some moisture in it and went bad, throw it out!