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Sheet Technique for Drying Herbs

Laying plants out on sheets in the shade is another method for drying. I have never been too thrilled by this experience, because you have to find tall grass to lay the sheet on so air can circulate below as much as possible, or you need to find four corner posts to tie the sheet corners to, and all in all it has always been kind of a pain to contrive. So I haven’t used this method very often, only as a last resort. Therefore, I am obviously not an expert in this process. But I am sure there are many folks out there who love to dry plants using a sheet, dish towel, scarf, or tablecloth; the possibilities are endless. Avoid using sheets of newspaper, however. Save these for toilet training puppies and for nesting gerbils. The printer’s ink on newspapers can pollute the drying plants. It has polluted many fine minds as well.

Drying racks are my preferred contraption for dehydrating herbs. These are a series of shelves of screen network (old window screens work well) stacked in layers at suitable distances from each other, and placed in large, well-ventilated housings. Upon these racks the herbs are carefully arranged so as to overlap as little as possible, and allowed to remain subject to the desiccating action of the air circulating below as well as above until completely dried. Avoid using wire screens. The metal tends to react with certain components of fresh plants. Use nylon screen instead. Actually, we use stainless steel screen on some of our drying racks. What can I say, give ’em a little time and “experts” will disagree with their own selves too.

Stacked Screens for Drying Herbs

Dehydrator Used for Drying Herbs

Commercial (or homemade) dehydrators are readily available. At one time I owned and used three wooden ones, one large one that stood on our kitchen pantry floor, and two small ones that hung out on our countertops. I’m a high energy enthusiast (“excessive” is probably a more accurate term) and often require more drying space than others normally do. Ordinarily one dehydrator is sufficient for home use.

If you choose to use a dehydrator, I strongly suggest you locate it in or near the kitchen (lab). Make it a convenient and ready-to-use tool. Don’t store it under a bunch of stuff in a cluttered hall closet that defies even the most courageous family member to enter. Relate to your dehydrator as an essential, active appliance, like the refrigerator, the stove, or the espresso maker. Give it a permanent location in the active zone of the kitchen. This will be quite practical and inspiring, encouraging you to become a prolific lay herbalist. Each time you locate a medicinal plant near your home (a Dandelion here, a Plantain there, a California Poppy, a cutting or two of your neighbor’s neglected Rosemary bush, a Mullein leaf, some fresh garden Thyme, autumn leaves from the Ginkgo tree that stands down the road, and so on), you can readily harvest and dry it, and place it in a storage jar for future use. In a short time you can accumulate a year’s supply of medicines and spices derived from neighborhood flora. You can do the same, of course, with any garden plants and fruits that come your way. I’ve even dehydrated leftover soup (soup leathers), an interesting challenge for the creative “excessive.”

It’s best not to use ovens or microwaves to dry your plants. You court disaster. There are too many gut-wrenching stories of people’s impulsive cravings for chocolate chip cookies and preheating ovens to 375° F. just after someone else in the household had carefully laid his or her herbs in the oven to dry by the gentle heat of the pilot light. And drying fresh herb in a microwave oven is about as compatible as tank maneuvers on a golf green.

As soon as they are thoroughly dry, herbs should be processed and prepared for storage. Dried herb that is ignored and left lying or hanging around uncovered collects dust and cobwebs, and loses its vital luster. Break down bundles, garble with timely fervor, strip leaves, flowers, needles and/or berries