Herb Gardening

Lesson 4: What Now?

Storing your herbs.

When your herbs are dry they will be crisp and break easily. You can remove the leaves from the stems, if you have opted to dry them on stems, by gently running your hand down the stem. Leaves grow upwards, toward the sun, so use a downward motion to remove them.

The very best way to store herbs is in dark colored glass jars, especially amber. If you have to store them in clear glass put them in a cabinet away from light. Herbs will keep many years but you definitely want to label them and include the year they were harvested in that label. They will keep, but some will lose a lot of their flavor if stored too long.

If you want to keep some fresh herbs, instead of all dried ones, they can be stored in the freezer. Put them in any heavy freezing bag and pop them in the freezer. Again be sure and label them. There are several other ways to preserve your crop besides freezing and drying. You can put herbs in vinegars, jellies; some of them can even be candied.

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