Drying Herbs by Aisha

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Okay folks, April wants some info on drying herbs.  THANKS APRIL for the topic idea!  Whoo!  Brains working again...figures...its 1030pm LOL and it finally 'wakes' up.  Hmm the fun of working 2nd shift I guess.

  Anyway I wont get off topic tonight..I promise LOL.

  So you've got your garden planted and you've just harvested. (I only harvest one plant at a time, process it fully then go to the next, helps keep everything straight rather than going through several types of plants and then looking at them going ummm is this the Chocolate mint or the Spearmint)

  Start with cleaning the kitchen work area.  My counter and the sinks (I have a twin sink system) you dont want food or other material getting on your herbs from washing dishes or rinsing them,  even if I dont see anything in the sink, I will rewash them just to be extra careful, you never know, especially in the summer time what has been crawling in your sink when your not looking.  Flies will drink from the damp sink and crawl around looking for bits of food that may not have gotten rinsed down the sink....they also like to crawl around manure of ALL kinds, dead animals etc..you dont want them wiping their feet on your plants :)  Also make sure to rinse the sinks very well, you also dont want dish soap residue on your plants. Any of the above, even in the tiniest amount can cause your plants to rot before they dry, or even mold.

  After everything is cleaned, sometimes I do it before harvesting, sometimes afterwards, I bring my harvesting basket to the counter and start filling one side of the sink with cool water.  You dont want it to cold (freeze the hands) or to hot (burn your hands or damage the herbs, hot water will cause the plant to start releasing their goodies...think tea time)  My harvest basket is approximately 2ft long by 8inch wide and about 10 inches tall made of wicker (I found it at a yard sale for like $2) but you can use anything, from wicker to a rubbermaid container.  The container does not matter, it is whatever you have available or want to use.  At times I have even used walmart plastic bags when I didnt feel like digging out my harvest basket (of coarse now I keep it out at all times...with 200ft of herb garden SOMETHING always needs harvested....and its nice to use to carry plants in or anything else I need to.   I consider myself more of a kitchen witch in aspect to most of my 'tools'  very few things I have are used for just magickal or harvesting.  I conserve time/money/storage and use what I can when I can for whatever I need it for.  I do know a lot of pagans who have very specific tools for their work from magick to herbs and medicals.   The only thing I use specifically for herbal work is my scissors and thats simply because it is easier to have a pair for herbs and a pair for everything else and in a pinch I will use either one for the other.  I say this, not to get off topic, but for those who are both new to the path and to herbs.  As long as you keep your equipment clean you do not HAVE to have seperate tools...but you can.  it is completely up to the indivdual.

  My herbal scissors are the exact same as my everyday scissors, I simply keep them with my harvest basket and check them more often for rust and sharpness...this way I dont have to look in a dozen places playing where did they go, after someone else has borrowed them and not returned them.  I can get very possessive with certain items I own....so if someone in my family borrows my scissors...they had better not be using my harvest ones and not putting them back exactly where they got them. Hence the seperate ones...everyone knows if its in my harvest basket not to touch them.  The few things that I use solely for herbs are my one pair of scissors, rubber bands, a pairing knife, and crockpot.

  Okay back to subject at hand..*G*  I DID promise not to get off topic tonight after all.

  You have your sinks cleaned out, one filled will cool water and your first harvest of...(insert your herb here) I usually measure by the handful when cleaning herbs. I put a couple handfuls of herb into the water and swish them around, making sure everything gets wet.  Let them sit in the water for only a few minutes (10 minutes max, but that is really pushing it) so make sure for this part you wont be interupted because you dont want the herb in the water very long...just long enough to rinse the dirt and bugs off of them.  Once I have them rinsed I pull them out of the water and put them in the other side of the sink and toss in another 'load' into the water.  By the time the first batch has drained for a few minutes the next load is ready to come out of the water and into the empty sink.  I remove the drained herbs and place them on the counter and remove the next load to drain.  

  Starting with the first load of herbs that have been rinsed and drained, I take the herb and gather it into small bunches, gathering the stems together until they are about the size of a quarter (max) I wrap a rubber band around them several times and then use the final wrap to secure it to a metal coat hanger (I secure it by wrapping it up and over the bottom of the coathanger and then around the herb again)  I wish I could get a video up of the process just so that you had a visual (I personally learn a lot faster/better by actually seeing something than by reading a description) unfortunately I dont have a video camera.  I usually put 3 such 'bundles' per coat hanger, one of each corner one in the center. You want to keep plenty of room in between each bundle to allow for air circulation.  And the bundles small for the same reason. The larger the bundle of herb is the longer it will take to dry, and in some cases, if the bundle is large enough it will only mold or rot before it dries and become useless even dangerous to have in the house if you dont notice the rot or mold soon enough.  Remember mold spores float in the air and you can breath them in without even realizing it which can eventually cause lung issues.  I will take pictures of a couple of my coathangers tomarrow when the suns up so you can see what they look like. My aunt, whom I learned the technique from puts more than 3 bundles per hanger..but personally I prefer to side with caution rather than go through all the work and have nothing to show for it in the end.  You can never be to careful with herbs, whether it is using them for medical use, teas or even simply drying and storing them to use for later.

  In my room (basically the only place I have to work in constantly) I have run a line from corner to corner.  It hangs approximately and inch from the ceiling when not in use (the weight of everything hanging usually drops it to about 3-4 inches from the ceiling) I placed screws into each of the 4 corners and wrapped the line tightly around the heads of each then pulled it tight before wrapping it around the next screw and finally tying it off on the last one.  The line stays up year round, simply because I find it more convient than taking it down and putting it back up time and again. My room has two windows on the Northwest side of the house it gets sunlight but not direct sunlight all day.  Its bright, but not for long periods of time. I hang the coat hangers on the line, and use clothes pins inbetween those that do not want to stay where I put them.  When the line gets some weight to it the hangers will slide down to the lowest point, hence the clothes pins which keeps at least a little space between each hanger for air circulation.  I start hanging in one corner work my way down the line.  When I run out of an herb I place a recipe card on the last one with the name of that herb then start my next one.  Again I do this to keep everything straight in my own head each person has their own way of organizing everything, this is simply my way.  My aunt does something similar, but does not tag each section, she can simply tell what an herb is on any given hanger she's been doing this long enough.  Id like to blame brains on my inability to do what she can, but even claiming to be blonde (which I am!) or braindead of the best of days, I know its not that.  I just have so much other stuff running through my head at any given time that its simply easier for me to tag all of my herbs. 

  Depending on the time of year, and the time I have I will leave everything hanging for about 6 weeks, sometimes 8 just to be certain.  Depending on the humidity levels, the rain fall etc sometimes certain herbs will dry faster.  Later in the fall, when I am doing my final mad dash...getting what I can in as fast as I can I will leave things to hang for a week or two then pull out the dehydrators.  If the plants have been hanging for at least two weeks I usually run everything through the dehydrators for at least 12 hours just to double check everything.  Told ya I was extra careful!  On average my dehydrators run from about august to the first week of Dec (depending on when my plants decide to go dormat, which depends on how fast the weather cools/frosts hit, snow flies etc). NEVER EVER harvest ANYTHING (I dont care how warm it got later, how good that plant looks, how much more you need to get you through the winter!) after anything less than a very light frost.  In fact if it frosts, and its fall, I dont harvest anything at all.  I have had to fight the urge to get just that little bit more off this beautiful looking plant to get me through to spring.  Harvesting after the fall frost can and will damage maybe even kill your plant and you may not even know it until spring.  And the herb that you just possibly killed your plant for will be practically useless to you whether it be medically or for a relaxing cup of tea.  A frost causes all that goodness to suck right back down into the lower stems and roots for the winter to help feed the root system for the winter.

  So, you've got your herbs hanging for the past 8 weeks and your ready to get them out of your way for the winter, or you want to put more up....storage is just as important as harvesting or drying.  You do not want to choose the wrong container and have all the past work be for nothing.  Luckily I have used several different methods to store my herbs with good results.  What I started with, was plastic baggies.  Of coarse the size of the bags depends on the amount you have to store.  What I found out...with plastic, is that it doesnt breath. And without 'breathing' you can run into condensation in the bags which cause mold.  Usings brown paper bags is better if you want to use bags, paper bags allow air to continue to circulate which cuts down on the risk of mold or rot.

  Better:  glass jars, again size depends on the amount you want/need to store.  I use the large gallon jars you get hot peppers or pickles in from walmart.  *G*  Yes I go through a LOT of pickles and even more peppers.  I adverage a gallon of peppers every two weeks, a jar of pickles about every 3-4.  (A girl does have to have her snack hehe) so I have dozens of these that I have saved over the last couple of years.  The one thing I have found with the glass jars (btw dark tinted ones are actually better than clear) is you have to keep them out of the sun.  No matter how dry those herbs are when you put them in there, if they are in placed in the sun the jar will accumulate 'sweat' on the inside.  I found this out recently when I took 2 dozen jars to the Farmers market to sell, and about 2 hours into my 'day' I noticed water gathering on the inside of the jar near the top.  My aunt also uses the jars (infact she just picked up a dozen jars from me today) but she will put the herbs into plastic bags and then into the jars.  Seems to work for her, and it also prevents exposing the entire jar of herb to the air every time you get into them. 

  I have since started to phaze out using the glass jars and have gone to the plastic Maxwell house coffee containers.  They have so far been mold resistant, and the dark container does not allow sun to reach the herbs inside.  Plus they are stackable and save room when storing.  I simply place a sticker on the lid with the name of the herb inside and stack them on shelves, in closets or anywhere else I can store them out of the way.   The less sunlight/humidity that have access to your herbs, the longer they will last.  Because I do not have enough of the coffee containers right now, I still use the glass jars, I just keep them in a darker area to avoid sun exposure.

  So you now have everything harvested, dried, and they are ready to place in the containers you have chosen. (BTW I have also used canning jars when needed)  hmmm how do I finish the process??  if you want to know *evil grin* Let me know......