Drying Basil

 

I’ve grown basil many times, but I’ve only dried it in small bits. Hanging a few stems up in a cool, dark area in my house at a time or using it fresh has been the only way I’ve used it. This year I decided to dry a bunch at a time, harvesting from 3 plants that I started from seed. You can see them as babies here.

First, I tried laying them out on my dads soil sifter (you know you’re not getting that back right, dad?:) It was REALLY hot at the time.

Here is the basil, growing really well.

 

Drying on the sifter

After

 

Oh, what a shame. I guess it was too hot, and probably too much humidity in the air here in Portland- probably? Ha ha!

Here is what it looks like just drying a few stems at a time hanging in a fruit bag. Notice how much greener?

 

So my wonderful, smartass, hubby says ‘I know, we have this thing in the house that just sits there in the cabinet. You could use it to DEHYTRATE it’

Well, what a great idea, I thought :).

So, here is what it looks like after using my food dehydrator.

Now these are green, but not the same green as the above picture. So it comes down to taste. I unfortunately ate the lighter green, air dried basil a while ago. I haven’t tried the basil dried with the dehydrator, so the jury is still out. I have to air dry some basil this week so I can do a proper taste comparison.

To be continued...

Happy gardening,

Tessa