How to Dry Herbs: 3 Things You Need to Consider

Drying herbs might seem simple, but how to dry herbs with success can be more complex. If you’ve made the effort to harvest or wildcraft your herbs, the last thing you want is for them to go to waste because they weren’t properly dried. I’m going to show you some of the most important tricks that I’ve learned over time to successfully dry herbs.

I remember one time early on in my herbal journey, I gathered a whole bunch of plantain. I harvested it really carefully and laid it out to dry. I put it in a jar and was so excited. Then I came back two weeks later to make tea, and the herbs were moldy. I thought, “That’s not going to happen again!” So I got really good at drying herbs. Check out the video to learn my top tips.

 

3 Things to Consider When Drying Herbs

You might be wondering, should I dry my herbs in a basket, hang them, or use a dehydrator? But first, there are three important things you need to consider before you decide how to dry herbs. Once you figure out these things, then you can choose your herb drying method.

1. What’s your environmental climate?

The first thing to consider is your environmental climate. Where do you live? What time of year is it?

Do you live in Arizona? Do you live in San Francisco? Do you live in the South? What’s the climate like?

A dry, hot place is going to be much different from a cold, moist place, for instance.

2. What’s your household climate?

The second thing you want to consider is your household climate. Think about whether your house is hot, cold, dry, damp, or humid.

Another thing that really contributes to your household climate is blowing air, either hot or cold. It could be from a heater, a fan, or anything that blows in your house. Blowing air is going to make your household climate much drier.

The other thing is how many sunny windows do you have? That will increase the temperature.

3. What herb are you drying?

The third consideration is what herb are you drying? What is the water content; is it a dry or wet herb? For example, sage is a very dry herb, while comfrey or marshmallow leaves are really moist herbs.

The time of day or time of year that you harvest the herb might also affect its moistness or dryness. If you harvest herbs in early spring, you’re going deal with a higher moisture content than something that you harvest in the late fall.

 

3 Ways to Dry Herbs

As you can see, every herb is different and every situation is different. Now that you’ve figured out the three things above, you can decide which herb drying method you want to use.

1. Basket Method

If you live in a dry climate, one way to dry herbs is in a basket. You want to use baskets with holes in them so there’s air circulation. I get most of my baskets at the thrift store. You can also get or make a screen and dry herbs on that.

How you do your basket method depends on where you live. I was raised in the Sacramento Valley in California where it’s hot and dry all the time in the summer. I could harvest pretty much any herb and just throw it on a basket, not pay any attention to how I laid it out, and two or three hours later it would be dry.

You may not live in such a hot and dry climate. If you live in a moderately dry climate, instead of just throwing the herbs on the basket, you want to lay them on the basket carefully. Keep the herbs separated because mold can grow if they touch each other.

Make sure that you do not put the basket in direct sunlight or blowing air. Direct sun will remove all the constituents out of your plants. Put the basket on a counter out of direct sun and blowing air, and let the herbs dry.

2. Hanging Method

If you have more moist climate, hanging the herbs can be a better method than the basket. Perhaps you live in a dry climate, but it’s winter so there’s moisture. Or maybe you live in a more humid area like I do by the coast, or your house is damp.

What you want to do is get a string and loop it around the herb stem. (Watch the video above for a demonstration.) You can then hang the herbs around your house somewhere up high because heat rises. I have a baseboard in my kitchen that has little nails all along it and I just hang everything up on that.

As the herbs are hanging, make sure they are exposed to air all the way around. Again, you don’t want this in direct sunlight.

If you’re dealing with a really moist plant, such as comfrey, if a tiny bit of the leaf folds over on itself, the place where it folds will turn black. You don’t want that. Comfrey leaf is one of those herbs where you want to hang up individual leaves, let them dry, and don’t let anything touch them.

Some of you may live in a climate that’s damp off and on. For example, when I lived in San Francisco, we’d have some great dry days, but then the fog would come in and it would be just wet as can be. I would have herbs hanging that were completely dry and ready to be put in a jar—and if I left them out during those moist days, they would rehydrate. If you live in one of these kind of areas, you really have to make sure that the herbs are still dry when you get them into the jar,

3. Dehydrator Method

If you find that your climate fluctuates too much between moist and dry and your herbs get moldy, or maybe they never dry in your humid climate, that’s when you get a dehydrator.

There are many types of dehydrators. I have an Excalibur, which I like because I can really lay things out and control the temperature. You want to get a dehydrator that lets you control the temperature so you can dry herbs at 100°F or lower.

 

How Long Does It Take to Dry Herbs?

As far as how long it takes herbs to dry, there is no single answer because all of these factors that we’ve talked about play a role. You can put an herb in a basket and it will be dry in two hours in one location and yet it will never dry in another location.

Drying herbs successfully is about using our senses and paying attention to our harvest. What’s happening with this herb? Is it dry? Has it just rehydrated?

I have people ask, “How do I know when an herb is dry?” You know it’s dry when it’s crunchy and crackly. You can hear it. There’s no moisture. If you don’t know what that feels like yet, this is an opportunity to tune into nature, redevelop your senses, and learn herb by herb.

 

I would love to hear from you! Have you ever dried your own herbs? What are some of the things you will consider next time you dry herbs? Please share in the comments below.