How to Dry & Preserve Garden Herbs (the Slow Way) — InVine Botanicals, Tallahassee FL

Drying is one of the oldest ways to preserve a herb harvest, and it's a step we take very seriously at InVine Botanicals, in Tallahassee, Florida. Done well, it locks in a herb's color and aroma. Done poorly, it loses both.

Here's how we do it. Good drying actually starts at harvest. We cut our herbs by hand in the morning, after the dew has dried but before the heat of the day, when the aromatic oils in the leaves are at their highest.

Then we move quickly. The fresh-cut herbs come straight indoors, because the longer they sit warm in a basket, the more they wilt and lose. Indoors, the herbs are laid out in a single, loose layer on screen racks.

Airflow is everything, so we never crowd them or pile them up. Each leaf and flower needs air moving around it. We use mesh screens specifically because air can move from above and below at the same time, which dries the herbs evenly and keeps any damp spots from forming.

The conditions in the room matter just as much as the method. We keep ours climate-controlled, holding it at around seventy-six degrees and low humidity. Just as important, we keep it dark.

Light is what fades a dried herb's color and breaks down its aromatic oils, so a dark, dry room protects both. Notice what we don't do: we never dry in direct sun, and we never rush it with high heat in an oven or dehydrator. High heat is faster, but it cooks off the very aromatic oils we're trying to keep.

Low and slow is the rule. Depending on the herb, drying takes anywhere from four to nine days. Leafy herbs like mint and lemon balm dry quickly, while denser flowers and stems take longer.

We check and tend the racks by hand as they dry, turning things gently so everything dries at the same pace. How do you know when a herb is done? The leaves should be brittle and crumble or snap cleanly between your fingers, with no soft or bendy spots left.

That fully-dry test matters. Any moisture left behind is what leads to mold later, which can ruin a whole batch. So patience here protects everything that comes after.

Flowers like rose and calendula get the same careful handling, dried whole and slow so the petals keep their color. Once everything is fully dry, it's ready to store, or in our case, ready for the oil. For us, dried herbs are the starting point of a slow oil infusion, but at home, you'd store them in an airtight jar, out of the light, where they'll keep for months.

Drying slowly and gently is one of those small, unglamorous steps that takes more time but makes all the difference. It's what keeps the herb close to how it was in the garden. So if you grow your own herbs, the recipe is simple: harvest at peak, dry them in a single layer with good airflow, keep them cool, dry, and dark, and wait until they're fully brittle.

That slow, careful drying is part of every balm and cream we make. You can find all of our garden-grown, hand-dried products at invinebotanicals dot com. Thanks for spending a little time in the garden with us.