Harvesting, Storing, Drying and Freezing Herbs

Harvesting

Detailed harvesting instructions for each plant, complete with pictures, can be found in the Tending and Harvesting Guides that come with our Seed Kits. Each of these Guides is also available online by clicking here.

If your Gourmet Herb Seed Kit came with thyme instead of cilantro and you do not have instructions for harvesting thyme, please see the Italian Herb Seed Kit Tending and Harvesting Guide, available by clicking here. The Gourmet Herb Seed Kit Guide is currently being revised to include thyme.

Storing

If you would like to harvest more herbs than you can use up while they are fresh, you can store them in the refrigerator. Some of the higher water-content herbs such as basil, parsley, savory, epazote, cilantro, chervil, sorrel and mint keep best if stored upright in the refrigerator with their leaves kept relatively dry, but with their stems in water. You can view or purchase a nifty refrigerator Herb Keeper that works well for storing these herbs by clicking here.

Most of the lower water-content herbs such as sage, dill, savory, oregano and thyme prefer to be stored in unsealed bags in the fridge, with a piece of paper towel inside the bag to absorb condensation and to moderate humidity.

Drying

All herbs can be dried successfully with the proper technique, but the easiest to dry are the lower water-content ones: sage, dill, savory, oregano and thyme. If you want to dry the juicier herbs such as basil, cilantro and mint, extra care must be taken to make sure they do not develop mold before they dry completely.

To dry herbs, harvest whole stems (with leaves intact) and bundle 4-6 stems together at the base with a rubber band. Make sure the rubber band is tight enough to continue to hold the herb stems as they dry and shrink. Take a small brown paper bag (a child’s paper lunch sack works well), label it with the name and harvest date of the herb, and poke quite a few holes in the bag for air circulation. Open the bag fully to allow for maximum air flow.

Place the herb bundle upside down in the bag, and gather the opening of the bag around the stem ends, tying them up together with a piece of string. Make sure the herbs are not too crowded in the bag, or mold can result.

Hang the bag so that the herbs are upside down in a warm room with good air circulation. The bag will help absorb moisture and wick it away from the plants, as well as protect the herbs from light, which will help assure maximum retention of flavor.

Check the herbs inside the bag in about two weeks to see how they are drying. Check every week or so until they are completely, crispy dry before being placing them in airtight containers for longer-term storage. Zip-close bags will work, but glass jars with tight-fitting lids are preferable, as they are more airtight than plastic bags. Again, make absolutely sure the herbs are bone dry before placing them in airtight containers.

Remove the leaves from the stems when they are dry, and store the leaves whole until ready to use in the airtight container. The leaves will retain more essential oil and therefore more flavor if left in whole-leaf form until ready to use.

Use about a teaspoon of crumbled dry leaves in place of a Tablespoon of fresh.

Freezing

All herbs can be frozen for longer-term storage. There are two methods: whole-leaf freezing, and ice-cube freezing.

For either method, harvest only fresh, whole, healthy leaves, wash them if necessary, and pat them dry with a clean towel.

To freeze whole leaves, place the leaves on a cookie sheet (making sure they are not touching each other) and place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the herb leaves are frozen solid. You can now take the frozen leaves and put them in a labeled zipper bag in the freezer – now that they are frozen, they will not stick together in a solid mass.

To make herbal ice cubes, fill ice cube trays half-full with herb leaves, and then cover with water. Place the trays in the freezer until completely frozen, then pop out the cubes and store in labeled zipper bags in the freezer. When ready to use, just add a cube or two to your favorite soup or stew.