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This article is part of the Main Preservation Methods Overview series. Check out the rest of the series here!
Why Dry?
Drying your produce and herbs reduces their water content. Since moisture contributes to mold and other spoilage, this method significantly extends their shelf life, turning days into years of available use.
Drying Methods
The main ways of drying include air drying, bag drying, and dehydrating.
Both air drying and bag drying are good fits for leafy herbs like peppermint and oregano as well as greens such as spinach or mizuna.
Although flowery herbs like chamomile and calendula can be bag-dried, air drying and dehydrating are typically better fits for them. This is because flowerheads trap moisture more than leaves and other narrower plant parts do.
Air drying typically involves 1 of 2 methods:
- hanging the herb or green upside-down by the stem
- laying the herb or green on a screen, a shallow basket, an herb rack (like this one), or a similar surface that allows for airflow from all sides
As discussed in our How to Dry Your Herbs articles, good air circulation is very important for both of these methods. This can be accomplished with a fan on a low setting if the area does not get much natural circulation.
Bag drying is drying the herb or green in a paper bag. Paper bags absorb moisture from the plant.
Since there is less airflow, bag-dried herbs have a higher chance of mold and uneven drying. Air drying is the more consistent method of the two. But bag drying is a fair alternative if air drying is not a good fit for you or if you are out of space to air-dry your herbs.
Finally, dehydrating is accomplished with a dehydrator, a small appliance with fans and controllable temperature and humidity. It can be used for a wide variety of produce, including strawberries, beets, carrots, chamomile, tomatoes, and many others.
Dehydrating has the advantage of being much faster and more exact than the other drying methods. However, dehydrators can be expensive, and different brands and models have different features.
This Cosori is one of the best-loved, highest-rated dehydrators on the less-expensive end. It's running about $160 at the time of this post. (Find it here.) Otherwise, if it's in your budget, Excalibur dehydrators like this one have more advanced controls and tend to last longer, making them the best-value dehydrators I have personally come across or heard about.
After Drying
In most cases, dried herbs and greens retain their best quality for 1 year after drying. But they are generally safe to ingest for several years or more. This is the case regardless of the drying method used (air, bag, or dehydrator) as long as the finished products are stored in a cool, dry place that is out of direct sunlight.
Next in this series, we'll discuss another category of preservation techniques, herbal preparations. Check out the herbal preparations overview here!