Drying & Preserving Herbs
In California we have a very long growing season. You can basically grow one thing or another all year long including most herbs. It doesn’t mean they are the best quality but they are available. However, herbs that I know I will use all winter I like to pick, dry and preserve both form medicine making as well as use in immunity teas for immediate relief.
There are two methods I use. If I am just trying to dry a bundle of sage to use for tea when the family has a sore throat then I trim it, bind it with twine or a rubber band and dry it upside-down out of direct sunlight but near somewhere warm like the stove so it dries quickly. If I am trying to do a lot of orange rinds for tea during the Winter, it isn’t practical to leave them on the counter for weeks on end. Instead I will use the medium setting on my dehydrator or the lowest setting on my oven. If you’re using the oven keep an eye out because they can burn. By using a low and slow method you are preserving the vitamins, minerals and general nutrients. You don’t want to fry them with heat or zap them with sunlight.
If you don’t have a garden and you’re new to this grab some herbs on your walk. Rosemary is a very popular hedge these days and you’ll notice a lot of it in landscaping if you’re looking. Rosemary is a hard one to mess up because it is so hardy. You can easily hang it to dry somewhere in your home and use it for cooking or tea later in the season.
Not to mention there is an enormous amount of folklore around Rosemary. It has been used for cleansing and purifying incenses since ancient times.
February Moon Phases
February 11th at 11:05 am New Moon in Aquarius, then Pisces
February 27th at 12:17 am Full Moon in Virgo
Cam Style Spotlight | E2A.07 |
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Things I'm Into ...
Wild Food Love @wildfoodlove
Herbal Academy @herbalacademy
Axe & Root Homestead @axeandroothomestead
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