any tips for drying herbs for tea?

[daveO]

My wife tried a herbal tea made with nettle, sage and red clover flowers last week and loved it. Since the ingedients are plentiful at the moment I thought I'd get a load dried up for when fresh supplies aren't available. Is there any prep that needs doing to the leaves before drying them or can I just fill the dehydrator and get on with it?

I'm going to store them in seperate jars so if anyone knows of other good combos we can try I'm open to suggestion

 

[British Red]

You often don't need to use a dehydrator - just dry upside down in large bunches

5 Herbarium by British Red, on Flickr

 

[mountainm]

I put some chopped coriander in my fridge at the top. Dried out perfectly. Didn't mean to do it mind.....

 

[Outlaw13]

I've just ordered one of these small racks from eBay for £4
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hanging-D...Bottle_Warmers_Coolers_LE&hash=item540999bbd9

 

[daveO]

I'm liking the herbarium there, Red. Although if I hang a bunch of nettles up at head height in the kitchen I may not be too popular

 

[Toddy]

I tie mine in bunches and dry them pinned to a cork board on the kitchen wall. It's above the radiator, which though it isn't on just now, is awfully useful in Autumn

BR has dry airy space, and that's really the best way, you can often manage in a shed that's in a sunny spot though.

Smaller herbs and flower heads I put (loosely, don't pack them tight) into paper bags and hang those up to dry. That works quite well with things like poppy heads and nettles mind to take fresh growth from nettles for preference; see crystals for why it's better.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

I'm liking the herbarium there, Red. Although if I hang a bunch of nettles up at head height in the kitchen I may not be too popular

Granted - the herbarium is our pantry / freezer room / pantry (brick built shed) - not the kitchen . TBH there are few times of year when you can't get fresh nettles here - other herbs are more tricky. Sage I can also pick at any time TBH.

BTW if your good lady can't get all the sage she wants, just cover the postage - I prune mine with petrol hedge trimmers!

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Depending on the herbs, and the quantity, I either hang them up in the kitchen like the others, or lay them out on a piece of grease proof paper.

The ones that don't dry so well like this, sage and basil come to mind, are best done in a dehydrator.

Julia

 

[daveO]

BTW if your good lady can't get all the sage she wants, just cover the postage - I prune mine with petrol hedge trimmers!

It would have been easier if I hadn't built the bird table right over the herb bed I've had to re-plant loads more elsewhere so we can have bird poop free herbs again. Thanks for the offer btw.

 

[British Red]

No probs - I have some prolific herbs - lemon balm, sage, fennel etc. I grow more than I can ever use and it breaks my heart when people buy them in Schwartz jars dried

 

[dave53]

does anyone know how to get the oil out of fresh lavender please?

 

[Toddy]

Steam distillation. You need an alembic to make essential oil.

That said, lavender is so aromatic that you can soak loads of the flowers in oil and leave it somewhere sunny for a week or so. Strain, and the oil will be heavily scented by the lavender.

You can make pomade using fat, look up enfleurage for instructions. It's a footery thing, but good results.

If you soak the flowers in alcohol (cheapest vodka you can find will do) the oil will be extracted into the liquid, and 'technically' it can be seperated out. In reality it's worse than enfleurage for simplicity.

Interested to hear how you get on with it

cheers,
Toddy

 

[dave53]

thanks toddy regards dave

 

[Toddy]

The soaking in oil method works quite well if you have strongly scented flowers
If it's cold, put the jar with the oil and lavender into a pot of cold water and slowly bring it up to pretty hot but not boiling or simmering for about ten minutes. Then leave it to cool down in peace. Strain the flowers out when the whole lot is cold.
I grow big deep dark red old fashioned roses. They are very heavily and beautifully scented. I can make rosewater from them but I can also make oil just as I have described with them too. Rose essential oil is horrendously expensive for good stuff; the oil I make for myself is very good though
I like sweet almond oil, but plain ordinary grapeseed is fine, and it's not going to alter the scent of the flowers in any way.
Fat works, but I like shea butter for the stuff I make as a moisturiser. Coconut's supposed to be very good, but I really don't like the smell of it. I eat a lot of nuts, but I detest coconut, and I think that comes across in the oil.

cheers,
M