Tips For Drying Herbs

Herbs are not only used for seasoning foods, but for medicinal purposes, teas, perfumes, and potpourri.

Most herbs are perennials, dying down each year and returning the following season. I have found that thyme, particularly, needs pruning fairly hard to keep its bushy shape, so that you have nice young leaves and juicy stems to use. If left to their own devices the stems can become straggly, woody and dry.

Herbs can be dried for use in teas, or to delicately flavor foods. They retain their fresh flavor for up to six months or more if stored in a dry, dark, cool spot.

Herb and spice shelves should not be near stoves or refrigerators. Heat from cooking diminishes flavors, as does the heat diffused from the outside of a refrigerator. If a dark cabinet is not available, store the herbs in tinted jars or wrap the jars in decorative dark paper.

Label and date herbs as they are prepared or purchased so that you can keep track of their freshness. When in doubt - smell. If the odor is dusty with only a faint aroma, it won't be much good adding them to your food and they should be discarded.

Basil, mint, chives, rosemary, sage, thyme, coriander, sweet marjoram, Lemon Balm (Melissa) and chervil can all be grown in your garden during the summer, or in containers on your window sill. Basil, particularly, is frost tender and should be protected at night as soon as the weather starts to cool down.

Herbs can be preserved for culinary purposes in several different ways, chopped and frozen, wrapped in small plastic bags for use as needed, or in ice cube trays covered in water and frozen. Just one or two cubes dropped into your soup or casserole is a quick and easy way to add seasoning.

A small bunch of mixed herbs can be dried by tying them together and suspending them from a line inside the house. Do not dry them in the direct sun. They can also be dried in the oven, dehydrator or a microwave.

For oven drying, wash the leaves gently and blot dry. Place on oven rack in the lowest possible temperature and leave the oven door ajar. Herbs need an even lower temperature than fruit and vegetables. Dry until crisp, but do not overdry.

For the dehydrator, spread the washed leaves on the shelves and dry at about 110°-120°F.

For the microwave more care is needed. Place the washed, blotted leaves onto absorbent paper and dry on the medium high setting for 30 seconds at a time. The fleshier the leaves the more time will be needed. Turn the leaves regularly and again, do not overdry.



Herbs will keep their flavor longer if the leaves are stored whole rather than chopped or ground. Crumble the leaves just before use for maximum flavor.

When making tea, one teaspoonful of the crumbled leaves, steeped for 5 to 10 minutes in a cup of hot (not boiling) water will make a flavorsome drink. The addition of honey and/or lemon juice also enhances the flavor and nutrition.

The extra flavor of carefully dried and stored herbs is far superior to those bought off the shelf. It is well worth the small effort involved.

Recipes From My Kitchen

Make your own Granola and give your family a nutritious, economical breakfast.

Don't stop there though. This versatile mix can be used in lots of ways:

Crush in the blender and use for graham cracker pie crust
Sprinkle over cooked or instant puddings
Use as a filler for cinnamon rolls
Sprinkle over ice cream for a crunchy, chewy topping

I'm sure you will find many more uses when you start thinking about it.

GRANOLA
4 cups old-fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup sunflower seeds
4 cups rolled wheat or wheat flakes, ½ cup water
1-1-1/2 cups coconut, ½ cup oil
1 cup wheat germ, ¾ cup honey
1 cup sesame seeds, 1 tsp. salt

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together water, oil and honey in small saucepan. Warm but do not boil. Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients and mix well. Spread on 2 large cookie sheets and bake at 225°-250° F. for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

OR Granola can be dried in the dehydrator in 5 to 6 hours at about 140°F., the taste will be quite different. The advantage of "cooking" granola in the dehydrator is that vitamins are not destroyed as with the higher heat.

GRANOLA MEAT LOAF

½ cup dried mushrooms, ¾ cup boiling water
1 tbsp. dried parsley, 2lbs. ground beef
6 large dried tomato slices, powdered, 2 beaten eggs
¼ cup dried green pepper, snipped small, 1 cup granola
1 tbsp. dried chopped onion, 2 tsp. salt
¼ cup milk

Combine mushrooms, parsley, tomato powder, green pepper and onion in a bowl. Pour boiling water over mixture. Let stand for 5 minutes. Combine ground beef, beaten eggs, granola, salt and milk and soaked vegetables. Shape into a loaf and bake 60-90 minutes at 325°-350°F.

Nesco American Harvest FD-61WHC Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator All-In-One Kit with Jerky Gun

The Nesco American Harvest FD-61WHC Snackmaster Express All-In-One kit is particularly suited to small families or outdoor enthusiasts. Preparing your own nutritious snacks to take on camping/hiking trips is easy as it dries fruit, vegetables and jerky quickly and evenly.

The appliance comes with 5 trays and jerky gun.

The jerky gun includes 3 tips, 5 cures and 5 seasonings and holds almost 3/4lb ground beef jerky mix. The tips included extrude a strip shape, narrow beef stick shape, and wide beef stick shape.

The seasonings and cures are for ground beef as well. For each one pound of ground beef, you mix in one packet of cure and one packet of seasoning. The gun is great and works well, making the whole process quick and clean.

All parts are dishwasher safe except the power head. The Opaque Vita-Save exterior helps block harmful lights which destroys nutritional content of food being dehydrated.

The Patented fan flow radial air action forces air down the center of the unit and horizontally across each tray for fast, even-drying.

The unit is expandable to 12 trays, but you may have to begin rotating lower trays to the top during the drying process when using the full complement of trays. With the included 5 trays it doesn't seem necessary, though exchanging the top tray with the bottom tray after the first hour during jerky drying seems to speed up the process.

The Recipe/Guide book included in the kit has the usual instructions and care handling. It also includes many recipes and instructions, tips and suggestions for preparing fruits, vegetables, meats (i.e. jerky), herbs, desserts, hobbies/crafts, and more.

The Nesco American Harvest FD-61 WHC Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator, as its name implies, is ideal for making nutritious snacks for families, campers, hikers and any other occasions where carrying weight is an issue.

The Nesco American Harvest 1000 Watt Dehydrator

Now is the time to save money by purchasing your Nesco American Harvest 1000 Watt Food Dehydrator.

The camping/hiking season is upon us and what better way to keep your energy high than eating homemade beef jerky and dried fruits.

Not only do you make money on the purchase price of the appliance if you buy now, but also by making your own jerky, dried fruits, vegetable, trail mix and more.

It means that you are not buying those foods in-store, with packages that end up in the landfills. We all know the importance of doing our bit to look after the planet. The powerful Nesco dehydrators are not called the "Green" machines lightly.

Other benefits:

1. Nesco builds the World's Fastest, Most Even Drying Dehydrators. The NESCO FD-1018P American Harvest Food Dehydrator is 1000 Watts of drying power to dry foods quickly and evenly for quality in dehydrating. No need to rotate trays.

2. Ideal for making fruit snacks, vegetables, herbs and jerky.

3. It can be expanded to 30 trays with the purchase of additional trays making for 30 square feet of drying area.

4. Drying pressure automatically adjusts to accommodate the extra trays.

5. Adjustable thermostat that allows you to dry different foods at their proper temperatures. Thermostat range of 95 - 160 degrees provides for the flexibility to produce the best possible drying results.

6. The patented Converga-Flow drying system ensures fast, even heat distribution and dries in hours, not days with no flavor mixing.

7. The FD-1018P packed full of accessories including 8 trays, base, 8 fruit roll sheet, 8 clean-a-screens, 1 original jerky spice and cure flavor packet and How to Dry Foods Book.

All components are dishwasher safe except the powerhead.