Tips For Microwave Herb Drying
There’s a feeling of loss that comes with the beginning of fall and the end of the summer vegetable and herb growing season. The sun will start to set early and the nights will grow colder. Once the leaves start to change color, every gardener knows that it’s time to say goodbye to their crops. Green tomatoes get picked and pickled; beans get harvested, corn is picked, and cornstalks are pulled up and set aside until Halloween, when they will be arranged on the front porch with pumpkins and other decorations.
Microwave Herb Drying
Late summer and early fall is the perfect time to preserve summer herbs, dried in your microwave oven. When herbs dry in a microwave, the essential oils of the herbs are absorbed and stored in the leaves that result from the drying process.
Just as dried tomatoes, dried grapes (raisins) and dried plums (prunes) have a more concentrated flavor than the fresh fruits, dried herbs are many times more potent than fresh herbs. If you harvest fresh herbs from your herb garden at the end of the summer growing season and use microwave herb drying to preserve them, you can preserve enough concentrated herbs to meet your cooking needs for the entire winter.
How to Practice Microwave Herb Drying
Microwave herb drying starts with the harvest process. Herb garden plants that are going to be dried should be harvested before they flower. In planting a flower, you can’t help but concentrate all your energy in creating a flower, and this robs the leaves of the essence of the plant. By harvesting the herbs before the flower starts to form, you collect the essential oils while they are still in the leaves of the plant.
Make sure that in cutting herbs, you do it in the morning, and use sharp clippers or shears. Make sure that the stems you cut are low on the plant. To remove the loose dirt or bugs, you should gently shake the leaves. Just take a few stems at a time then wrap them in a kitchen towel and place it in the microwave oven. So the towel and herbs won’t burn, make sure that you put a glass measuring cup full of water.
Heat the herbs for 30 seconds on high. After the timer goes off, remove the herbs from the oven. Do not remove it from the towel until it has cooled completely. Once you have removed the dried leaves from the stems, store them in a glass jar or plastic container them have them placed in a cool, dark place. Dried herbs tend to look alike, so be sure to mark the container with the name of the herb inside.