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• Stuffing a paper bag full with fresh herb greens and/or blossoms will often in a short time ignite the composting syndrome. So, while transporting, place collections of freshly picked plant parts in a cool and shady location and get them back out of the bag and arranged in bundles for hanging or placed onto drying racks as soon as possible. Don’t put this off. Don’t even think of “processing” (washing, garbling, slicing) as a next step after “harvesting.” It is not the next step; it is the second half—the completion—of the harvesting act. The two experiences are one. Allow as minimal a time interval as possible to occur between accomplishing both halves.

Keep in mind that, with most herbs, it is quick and easy to harvest a large quantity, but it usually takes considerably longer to process these pickings. Profuse picking followed by procrastination (or processing fatigue) is a notorious terminator of vast quantities of potentially good-quality dried herb. For the sake of the plant communities and to prevent your own disappointment, try not to over-harvest, and be determined to complete your day’s work. The reward is great.

• Plants are dry enough to be placed in storage only when all of the parts are brittle. All parts must snap crisply when bent. So, in most cases, when the stem and all thicker portions of plant pieces are crisp and brittle, the herb is dry enough to be placed into a storage container. Cut large roots to see if the centers are completely dry. If any moisture remains in any portion of a plant, mold, rot, and enzyme attacks will have their way with it during storage.

• Stored herbs should be re-inspected occasionally. Dried herbs are immensely efficient at finding and absorbing any moisture that is lingering in storage containers. Check your stashes monthly, and if the herbs don’t feel as crisp as they did before, dry them again. It doesn’t take much time or effort to give them a desiccating booster.

HANGING BUNDLES AND DRYING RACKS

Shaded, dry heat with good air circulation creates the optimal condition for dehydrating fresh herbs. Any and all ingenious devises that create these conditions are encouraged, and if successful, applauded. The optimal air temperature to use for drying ranges from 85 to a 100° F. (30 to 40° C.), depending on the plant and the part being dried. When using drying-rack type contrivances, it is best that the warm air circulates below as well as above the drying plant parts. If you choose to bundle or string your herbs and hang them to dry, the air needs to circulate freely around them. This circulating heat carries away the plant’s moisture. If the warm air that comes in contact with the moist plant parts can’t move on, but instead lingers around the plant (incubating and stimulating trouble), the plant parts will either mold, have an enzyme attack, or rot, none of which leaves you with pleasant memories. Woodland bare-bottom encounters with poison oak and poison ivy and desiccating mishaps are notorious villains in herbal horror stories.

Bundling herbs and hanging them in a shaded location amidst circulating warm air is a simple, inexpensive method to dry plants. Use rubber bands for bindings; as plants dehydrate, they shrink and often fall out of twine bindings. Don’t make the bundles too large, because the plants located in the center of the bundle might be cut off from the air flow, leading to mold, enzyme attack, rot. Dry or drying flower heads that are laden with seed can be bundled together, the heads stuck in a paper bag and secured, and the bundles hung up or shaken, letting the seeds dislodge from the heads and collect at the bottom of the bag.

Stringing herbs on a twine or heavy thread (clothesline-like) works for drying smaller harvests or when drying more delicate plants that are relatively light in weight. This bundling method allows each plant to adequately touch the passing air currents.

Bundling Herbs for Drying

Bundling Technique for Collecting Herb Seed

Stringing