Dealing with Dried Herbs

Once the herbs we cut for drying have dried, we have to do something with. We can't have them hanging around until we need them--they'd lose their flavor and get dusty. Also we need the space where they are hanging for drying more.

We have already processed two big batches of mint--two different types. I also just finished a big batch of tarragon. For some things, like the red mint I use for tea, I leave even the coarse stems in. For others, I remove them. It depends on how easy they get cut up and how they taste. The green mint stems are more "grassy" in taste, so I take those out. I am not even sure yet if the flavor of the dried green mint is pleasant. I also still don't know what kind it is. I will have to take pictures one of these days so mom can try to figure it out for us.

We want our herbs chopped up. The easiest way we have found to do this is to break them up into the chopper than came with our Braun staff blender. It works great for dry herbs, but we do need to shake it while it chops to get all of it cut up. If any stems came into the chopper and were too coarse, it is easy to pick them out.

I have learned that it is best to work on a clean, dry area when breaking the herbs up into the chopper. A lot of it will fall all over the place and if you work on a clean, dry spot, you can just brush that into the chopper. I have also learned that I should only do this on days when the vacuum is out for me or DH is around to deal with cleanup. I manage to drop flakes and bits onto the floor. I managed today to clean it up with dustpan and brush, but getting up and down was very painful for me.

Once it is chopped up, I pour it into a clean, dry glass. If it isn't chopping easily, it probably isn't dry enough. I had that problem with some of the mint I did. Label the glass because all this chopped up stuff looks pretty similar and it is annoying to have to sniff them all to figure out what you are dealing with.

Then we put the glass on top of the furnace open for a few days. That gives the last moisture a chance to escape. Then we put the lid on and leave it there, but check the lid for any signs of moisture. All that hard work will be wasted if we seal it up with moisture still in it!

The next one I need to process is called "Løvstikke" in Danish. Scientific name Levisticum officinale. This would be "lovage" in English as far as I can find out. It is related to celery. We use it mainly for improving the flavor of older potatoes when boiling. We have a big bunch of it hanging to dry in the window in the hallway and it seems to be about dry enough.