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This article is part of the Main Preservation Methods Overview series. Check out the rest of the series here!
Herbal preparations are an excellent way to benefit from the herbal properties of your harvest, and they also extend the shelf lives of your herbs.
Jump to: Teas, Syrups, and Tinctures | Oils, Vinegars, and Salts | Sweet Treats | Read More
Teas, Syrups, and Tinctures
The most familiar herbal preparation for most of us is tea, which can be made with either fresh or dried herbs. So following the instructions in the How to Dry Your Herbs articles is one way to preserve your herb harvest for later use in tea along with any of the other preparations mentioned in this article.
Dried herbs retain their highest quality and potency for the first year after harvest. However, most herbs are safe to eat and use for several years.
The term "tea" includes hot infusions, cold infusions, and decoctions. Our simple uses articles and the ingestibility sections of our gardening facts articles (like this one for rose) specify which type of tea is best for the herb being discussed.
Learn how to prepare each type of tea in these articles:
A syrup is made using a decoction or a long infusion along with a sweetener like honey, sugar, coconut sugar, molasses, or robust maple syrup. Herbal syrups are delicious and beneficial, and the sweetener acts as a preservative.
Since this is the case, the shelf life of a syrup varies based on the proportion of infusion/decoction to sweetener as well as the type of sweetener used. It can be anywhere from several weeks to 1 year. For more information, check out our How to Make an Herbal Syrup article here.
Tinctures are made using fresh or dried herbs as well. They also include alcohol. Since alcohol is one of the best non-synthetic preservatives, most tinctures are safe to use for several years or longer, although they are the most potent for the first 2 years.
Oils, Vinegars, and Salts
An herb-infused oil can be used as the foundation for a salad dressing, balm, or salve or applied directly to the skin, depending on the herb.
Due to the nature of oil and water, it is strongly recommended to dry your herbs first before infusing them in oil. Otherwise, the water will likely separate from the herbs while they are in the oil, and this can cause a layer of mold to form on top of the mixture, rendering it unusable.
The exception to this is St. John's wort. St. John's wort can certain properties that are only active in the fresh form of the plant, and they are well-preserved in oil. In this case, you may consider wilting your St. John's wort overnight and infusing it into the oil the following day.
The shelf life of herbal oils varies based on the herb, storage conditions, and type of oil used. The average shelf life is around 1 year, but it could be 6 months or 2 years, depending on these and other factors.
Herbal oils can be processed further into products such as lotions, lip balms, body balms, and salves. We will discuss these products in further depth in future articles.
Herb-infused vinegars make excellent salad dressings and dressing bases as well, especially for those of us that struggle to find commercial salad dressings due to allergies.
Herbal vinegars are especially recommended for preserving vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A and C. This makes them a particularly good fit for plants like white pine, hibiscus, berries, nettles, garlic and other alliums, fennel and most other carrot-family-member herbs, oregano, and mints like peppermint and spearmint.
Vinegars can be made with dried or fresh herbs, although consideration should be given to the water content percentage if making them with fresh herbs. If this is a concern, you may consider wilting the herbs, meaning drying them for only a day or 2 to remove some but not all of the water content.
Most herbal vinegars are made with apple cider vinegar and last for 6-12 months. This is a similar timeframe to most frozen fruits and vegetables.
Herbal salts are another interesting preservation method that involve mixing 2 parts salt to 1 part herb. The salt acts as a preservative, so herbal salts have a long shelf life. They will be at peak quality for the first 1-3 years, but they can last indefinitely if kept dry.
Sweet Treats
Herbal honeys are a quick, easy, delightful way to extend the life your herbs and enjoy the beneficial qualities of both the honey and the herbs.
Herb-infused honeys prepared with dried herbs are fresh for about 1 year, while those made with fresh herbs tend to last for up to 6 months.
Herbal treats like candies and electuaries can be a fun, effective method of preserving your herbs, especially herbs with a pleasant taste like peppermint, ginger, rose, and chamomile. They are most commonly made with sugar or honey, although other sweeteners can be used as well.
Herbal candies and electuaries both have a shelf life of about 1 year, although most of us have no problem eating them much earlier than that!
Read More
Eventually we will cover all of the above herbal preparations, but here are the ones we have covered so far:
- How to Make a Hot Herbal Infusion
- How to Make a Cold Herbal Infusion
- How to Make an Herbal Decoction
- How to Make an Herbal Syrup
You can also find these articles in the Herbal Preparations section of our Further Reading page, accessed via this link or from the menu at the top of any page on the Plant to Plate site
Next in this series, we'll discuss another preservation technique, freezing. Check out the freezing overview here!