Saturday, February 20, 2010

Refrigerator Drying

One of my favorite ways to dry herbs is in the fridge. In order for this to work it must be a frost free fridge but it is a great way to dry herbs locking in the color and the flavor. To dry, simply take a small hand full of your herbs. This time I dried the final harvest of our fragrant scented geraniums. Take about 15 t0 18 stems and put them in a brown paper lunch bag. It is always a good idea to label/date your bag. Fold down the top of the bag and place in the refrigerator. It takes about two weeks (hard woody stem plants like Rosemary take longer) but essentially the herbs are dehydrated. Once they are completely dry you can take them out of the bag and bottle the herbs, and enjoy using your summer herbs all winter long.

Please Note: Although we're posting this in the dead of winter for the Northeast, it is our fervent hope that someone somewhere is able to harvest their garden and is so inspired by this post that they are harvesting right now. For those of us still buried under inches, nay feet, of snow, please save this information for the appropriate time. It is invaluable. The post was originally written in November and didn't get posted at that time, and before you know it, it was winter and the holiday season. The main reason it is being posted now is that the author of this post has threatened to never blog again if it doesn't get posted, plaintively asking 'what's wrong with my blog post?'. There's nothing wrong with this blog post, it's a wonderful blog post, excellent information, great photos, just not quite appropriate at this time. But, I want this monkey off my back, and I want my blog partner to continue posting too! How about you?

10 comments:

PeggyR said...

I will have to try that, when I'm able to see my herbs! Thanks for posting on my blog!

Comfrey Cottages said...

well drying in the frig is a brand new idea to me! cool! lol no pun intended:) i will give this a try when the season of harvest comes again:) thank you for sharing:)

marthae said...

Thanks for this tip. Actually here in So CA I have fresh herbs in my kitchen garden year round. But, I do still hang some to dry, so will definitely try this refrigerator method, too. Do you think one is better over the other? Just curious.

parTea lady said...

This sounds like an easy method to dry herbs. I'd like to try it with basil. Thanks for the tip.

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

Duh! I keep forgetting about this method! Scented geraniums are perfect because they lose their beautiful color when dried in the air! Your blog partner must continue to post! PLEASE! Thank you! Play nice you two! LOL!

Marilyn Miller said...

You two are too funny! Definitely a good idea that I will tuck into my brain for later in the year. Now I hadn't thought of drying the scented geraniums, but now I will also keep that in mind too. Thanks!

monika said...

Useful idea indeed! I do it with the basil we grow in the garden at the end of the summer..like that I always have fresh basil in the freezer when I need during the winter time!

Donna and Miss Spenser said...

You made me laugh today...glad it was posted now; I was actually prunning getting ready to prune some of them that we had brought in for the winter.

Donna (IA)

Anonymous said...

Awesome post. Do you mind if I ask what your source is for this information?

Anonymous said...

I needed to thank you for this nice learn!! I positively enjoying each little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you publish