We grow herbs: mints, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and tarragon. And while we love using them fresh all summer, we also love to preserve their delicious flavors to brighten the darker days of winter.
Much of our basil is frozen in olive oil, but properly dried basil retains a lovely scent and flavor that we use in pasta sauces. To dry it, simply harvest first thing in the morning and lay out on a clean towel in a dry room for a few days. Try to pick a place that doesn't get a lot of sun and where the air circulates. In a few days, the leaves will be dried and can be stripped from the stems. I store them whole in a mason jar - they seem to retain the flavor better whole than if I powder them.
This method is also how we dry mint (for tea), oregano, and other leafy herbs. We stopped drying rosemary in bulk - we clip a few stems and dry them and just bring in the pot to our sunny living room to overwinter.
How do you preserve the tastes of summer?
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