I was so excited to plant a garden this summer since we moved into a house. Well the garden didn’t happen. Life got busy with moving, starting a new job for hubby, new therapy for our son and other summer stuff. We did however plant a little barrel of herbs. I am just as over joyed about this as the planting a garden.
We planted it all from seed, and I am so impressed how well it has grown. I have loads of basil, so I needed to do something with it to preserve it. I decided that drying it would be just fantastic. I don’t have a dehydrator so I had to use other resources I had. My oven would have to do the job.
1st: Cut your basil from your garden with kitchen scissors. Then wash it, and let it dry on a paper towel on the counter.

2nd: Remove all the basil leaves from the stems. You don’t want to eat the stems just the leaves.
3rd: Set your oven to the lowest temperature it will go. I think mine goes to about 170 degrees.
4th: Place a cooling rack inside a cookie sheet and lay the basil leaves or whatever herb you are drying on the cooling rack. Place in the oven for an hour to hour and a half. Be sure to check on it often.

5th: When they are done they will look like this:

You can now store them in a tightly sealed container or Ziploc bag until you can use it. Be sure to label what is in the bag. If you are like me I have mama’s brain and have a million things on my mind and forget easily.

Save