How to Dry Fresh Herbs with an Herb Drying Rack

Posted by Emily Tisdale

Herbs are probably some of the easiest things to grow.  Many herbs, like mint and oregano are perennials.  This means they come back year after year and become more established each year.  I use cedar window boxes to grow my herbs.  Those that I grow include: mint, rosemary, sage, oregano and chives.  I also like to grow thyme and basil.  

It is great to have fresh herbs for cooking in the summer, but it’s difficult to use all that you can grow in one season.  A great way to make use of more of your harvest if to dry your herbs and use them throughout the winter.  I find that sage, oregano and rosemary dry very well.  (Chives are not a good candidate for drying.)  

My husband built me an herb drying rack out of tobacco sticks.  These sticks are not from a tobacco plant, but instead they were used in North Carolina for drying tobacco.  Tobacco is laid over the pieces of wood to dry.  Using this rack and some paper covered wire, I strung up the herbs by twisting the wire around the stem of the herb and then around a rung of the rack.  I left the herbs to dry for several weeks.  Once dried I took them down and put them into jars.  I’m surprised how quickly we go through dried herbs in our house - and I’m happy to not waste our summer harvest of herbs.  

Dried oregano.