Processing: Preparing Fresh
Herbs
Preparing Dried Herbs
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Fresh and dried fruit drink. Blend fresh, dried or
forzen currants, sour cherries, blueberries,
oranges and a banana.
This cocktail is rich in flavonoids and other antioxidants. Loaded with fiber, vitamins, phytochemicals: a health protecting and therapeutic meal or snack. Here is a cleansing anti-cancer drink that may extend longevity. I don't know what it is about this blend, but I feel clean throughout and supercharged after indulging myself with it. |
Drying First Steps: Herbs should be processed and dried immediately after harvesting.
Plants can be stripped of their aerial parts, or in the case of small, delicate plants they may be dried whole on the stem.
You may dry herbs in the oven, a food dryer, or in open air in a dry, ventilated room. For a considerable sum of money you can purchase a freeze dryer. For example, preliminary research shows that freeze dried nettle may be helpful in treating allergies.
Microwaves are also used to dry herbs. Spread the herbs on parchment paper, microwave at bake setting or at the reheat setting. This will be trial and error the first time. So check your herbs at 20 second intervals. I do not use a microwave because of its effect, changing the structure of proteins and starches and other chemistries.
Oven vs. Food Dryer: An oven is quicker and I believe a food dryer without it lid on is more gentle, with good ventilation caused by the heating element. Spread the herbs on white parchment paper (non flammable) if drying in an oven. In a food dryer place the plant parts on the racks in a food dryer.
GENERAL: A plant like yarrow dries quickly, simply raise the temperature of your oven to 250 degrees, turn the heat off, spread the yarrow on parchment paper, place on a rack in the oven, leave the oven door slightly ajar, and you will have dried yarrow by evening. (See Dr. Corson's yarrow recipe). Other plant part such as day lily buds and blossoms, may contain more water and require more time.
Herbs can be hung upside down in a dry, warm area with subdued light. Many harvesters use a barn loft for this purpose. Herbs that require days to dry this way are subject to mold and other fungal contaminations if the weather turns wet.
Chinese dry herbs like jujube with fire, smudging, or using indirect heat to quickly dry them.
Personally, I use the oven or a food dryer exclusively. We don't have enough dry weather in Michigan to safely dry herbs over several days--also, I'm impatient.
Aerial parts of plants, the leaves, flowers, stems, buds may be dried in a warm oven or a food dryer. Make certain the food dryer has all vents open so the herbs don't get overheated and there is adequate convection of air. The two problems with a food dryer is not letting it get too hot and its small size. To resolve the first problem you can remove the lid from the dryer and slow the drying process. If you have a large harvest you may be required to go to drying your herbs in a room.
Flowers are picked in the morning and dried in a food dryer at our house. With the lid off flowers typically dry in one or two days. Calendula flowers are stripped of their petals and dried. I have cut screens to fit in my food dryer so the petals don't fall through the grates onto the heating element. Hollyhock, Rose of Sharon and other malvas are dried whole and used to make teas.
Roots, Rhizomes, Tubers, Bulbs: underground parts of plants are gathered typically in the fall or the spring of the year, that is after the plant has gone dormant, or right before it initiates spring growth. Wash thoroughly in warm water (use a brush), rinse, dry. Cut away damaged plant material, discard roots that are infested, rotting. Slice the root in thin slices, between a 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch. Spread on parchment paper and dry in a warm oven. You may heat the oven to 300 degree, then place the roots in the oven, leave oven door slightly ajar. If the roots are not dry repeat this process.
Fruit may be harvested when ripe, but not too ripe...Pick firm fruit, slice large fruit in 1/4 inch pieces, smaller berries may be left whole. Place on parchment paper and dry in the oven as your would roots. I prefer to dry fruit in a food dryer. Large fruit needs to be sliced or cut open, cut in half, depending on the size of the fruit. Smaller fruit like elderberries may be dried whole (best dried first day with lid on, two days with lid off food dryer).
Seeds and seed heads are best dried in a warm, ventilated and dry room. Hang the plants upside down as the seeds dry they may fall from the plant. Put a tray covered with absorbent paper below the seed heads. Parching: Some herb seeds taste better parched like pumpkin seeds, fennel seeds and sesame seeds to name a few. Parch seeds in a hot skillet, for pumpkin seeds I preheat a pan, get it hot, then pour seeds in the pan, agitate the pan, until the seeds are hot and parched. Pumpkin seeds will actually pop and swell into pepitas.
Bark should be stripped from a trees outer branches you have pruned. Girdling a tree kills it. Stripping large patches of bark from the main trunk of tree leaves it susceptible to attack from animals, micro organisms, insects, fungus. So strip bark from outlying branches you are pruning. Bark pieces may be cut and dried in a clean, dry, open aerated room.
Aloe Vera gel is removed by slicing open the leaf along its length, fold open the leaf, exposing the aloe gel, then use a knife or spoon to scrape out the gel. Another way to do the same thing is to cut off the leaf and hang it cut side down and let the gel ooze out.
Sap from maple trees, birch trees, walnut trees, grape vines: From maple, birch and walnut trees, you may purchase sap taps, drill holes in the tree and collect the sap. For maple this process is begun with the January thaw and continues through March and occasionally into April. Sap may be frozen in a freezer, drunk immediately, or evaporated over an open fire. See the video Trees, Shrubs Nuts & Berries to see how this is done. This video also covers tapping grape vines.
Store in Sterilized Amber Jars: I prefer to store all my herbs in amber quart jars that have been sterilized and sealed. I sterilize the jars in the oven. Wash the jars with soap, rinse thoroughly, leave the jars wet, put them in an oven at 450 degrees for twenty minutes. Be certain to put the herbs in a cool oven, then set the temperature at 450 and timer for 25 minutes. After the time has expired, turn off the heat, but leave the oven closed. In about an hour you can remove your warm and sterile jars. Place your dried herbs in the jar, seal and label the jar.