How to Dry Herbs At Home

How to Dry Herbs At Home1 How to Dry Herbs At Home There are some dried herbs which cost much less and taste much better than the commercial varieties. Fresh and naturally dried herbs come with a more intense flavor, smell and brighter color. You can dry most of herbs at home simply by putting those under the sunlight for consecutive days. But you have to be careful in selecting the manner in which you want to dry the herbs. Because while drying the herbs you should ensure that their medical quality is preserved. Also it is important to examine the herbs thoroughly to make sure that no other plant has ended up in the pile accidentally. The unnecessary parts of the herbs should be removed along with already dry or wrinkled looking leaves and stems. The drying method should be also considered based on preserving the medical qualities and valuable substances of the herbs.

Instructions

The drying process of a particular herb may take more or less time based on the type and nature of the plant. Always make sure to dry the herbs under a temperature of 50-60 degrees Celsius. Further, if the drying plant contains some essential medical oil, you have to ensure that the temperature remains under 30 degrees Celsius.
There are some parts of a plant which can be dried directly using the sunlight. Some parts of a plant like seeds, roots and barks, which do not contain any color pigment, can be dried by directly exposing those parts to the sunlight. But some parts of the plants like flowers and leaves cannot be dried under the sunlight as it will make those lose their color and qualities. So these parts are required to be dried in a shadier place.
Before starting the process of drying the herbs you have to separate different parts of the plant like flowers, leaves, seeds, roots and barks. After separating these parts, spread these parts on a blanket or a large paper sheet. Ensure that the parts are scattered over the sheet or blanket and not placed by piling one on top another. Select a ventilated, sunny and warm place to dry these herbs.
You have to be patient if you are drying the herbs in a shady place as the process is slow and time consuming. You have to allow sufficient time for drying these plants while ensuring that their quality and color remain unchanged after the herbs are fully dried.
Traditionally autumn is considered the right time for collecting roots and barks of plants. But during autumn the sunlight is lesser intense and the weather is usually humid. So the drying process of herbs may be slowed down due to the climatic constraints. Also these herbs will requires some extra heat for drying which you can provide using some specially designed dryers. You can dry a small portion of these roots or barks using your oven with a temperature remaining below 60 degrees Celsius.
You can ascertain that the herbs like roots have dried fully when the herbs loose their elasticity and become easily breakable. For some softer herbs like flowers and seeds the drying process comes to an end with fine dust forming in your hands while crushing the herbs using your palms.
After drying the herbs it is also very important to preserve them properly by storing in small paper or cotton bags, glass jars, and metal boxes. For herbs containing essential oil it is always better to use metal boxes for storing. Also ensure that the herb storing place is dry, clean and safe from the effects of harmful environmental factors like moisture, direct sunlight and intense heat.