How to Hang Dry Herbs

What Herbs Are The Best For Hang Drying?

There are no limits to hang drying herbs. You can use rosemary, thyme, mint, cilantro, basil, oregano, lavender, thyme, parsley, chives, sage, tarragon, chamomile, and bay leaves. You can even hang dry the flowers of cilantro (coriander) and dill to harvest the seeds and plant them in your garden next year.

What You’ll Need

Here’s everything you will need to hang dry herbs at home, plus a couple important notes.

• Herbs: I mostly use herbs harvested from the garden, but have also preserved store-bought herbs.
• Scissors: Sharp kitchen shears are a must when harvesting your herbs. The clean cut will help your plant heal quickly and continue to grow.
• Twine: Use a Cotton butcher’s twine that is marked food safe. You can also use jute or hemp twine and small rubber bands.
• Drying Racks: If you need something small, I recommend using a collapsible wood wine bottle holder (like I used). You can also use a large collapsible wood laundry rack.
• Storage Containers: Whatever you choose, make sure it is glass and has an airtight lid. I recommend small jars or these hinged lid containers.
• Food Processor: I use a small, 3.5 cup food processor to easily break down the dried herbs. You can use a coffee grinder, mortar and pestle, kitchen scissors, or crush the dried herbs by hand.
• OPTIONAL Jar Vacuum Sealer: This handheld sealer is great for quickly sealing your jars of herbs, it sucks out all the air to keep them fresher even longer. And if you open the jar of herbs, you can reseal them over and over again.

How to Hang Dry Herbs

1. Harvest your herbs. The best time to do this is in the morning and with a sharp pair of kitchen scissors. Always cut just above a leaf node (where leaves meet the stem), or 1 inch from the ground (for non leaf node herbs), and never remove more than 1/3 of the plant at a time.

2. Prepare the herbs for drying. Start by removing any leaves that are damaged, yellow, and brown or dead. Then shake them gently outside to remove little bugs or dirt. I personally do not wash my herbs, but I also do not spray mine with chemicals and they are tucked behind my house away from critters. If you want to wash them, do it with cool water and make sure they are completely dry before moving on.

3. Bundle the herbs together. Gather small bundles of leaves or larger bundles of stemmed herbs and tie them off with kitchen twine, leaving long tails. Tie the tails around a spindle of the drying rack, keep enough space between the bundles for proper airflow.

4. Dry the herbs. Place your rack of herb bundles in a cool, dry, and dark place like a cellar, garage, or cabinet. Dry times vary based on how much moisture is in the herbs you are drying, but generally it’s one to two weeks. When dried they should be aromatic and green, but crispy and crumbly to the touch.

Storing Your Dried Herbs

Your herbs will be ready for storing when there’s no moisture is left in the leaves or stem. The stems are the last thing to dry down, so if they’re still pliable they’re not ready.

You’ll want to remove the leaves from the stems and only save the leaves. I put mine in a food processor or coffee grinder to break them down into the perfect size, but you can also do it by hand, with kitchen scissors, or a mortar and pestle. Also, instead of discard the stems throw them back in your garden beds to naturally compost.

Place the dried herbs in airtight jars or other glass containers, then store in a cool, dark cabinet or pantry. They’ll keep up to 2 years and for expanded storage use a handheld jar sealer.

Tips & Helpful Information

When harvesting, only cut 1/3 of the plant at a time. Cutting more than 1/3 can shock the plant and cause it to quit growing and even die.

Keep herbs separate in all stages. There is nothing worse than having to separate herbs because they got mixed together. I recommend working in batches and by herb type to keep organized. But feel free to mix dried herbs at the end to make your own spice blends.

Dry extra or lone herbs and flowers on cooling racks or screens. They are fully exposed to the air this way and promotes even drying.

Keep your herbs in the dark. Sunlight causes the herbs to lose their beautiful green color. Keep them out of direct sunlight to prevent this from happening.

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