In our previous blog post, we dried herbs and stored them whole. Storing them whole is said to keep the flavor longer then grinding or crushing them. We have plenty of herbs so we decided to experiment and store them crushed for Round 2. We dried the same herbs as last time - Rosemary, Oregano, Sweet Basil, Thyme, and Sage. This time we added Chives. More on chives later in this post. (Click Read More to continue) We hung our herbs in a dark dry area of our lower level we use as a pantry. We found drying them at least three weeks works best. Some of our herbs have large leaves (Sage and Sweet Basil) and they were not ready in two weeks. To keep the process as authentic as possible, we used a mortar and pestle set to crush the herbs. The entire process took a little over an hour. With something automated like a Magic Bullet, the process could have taken 20 minutes. There is something about using your own hands that makes it more gratifying even if it does take longer. However, if you do not like to see or feel herbs in your food, you may want to elect to grind the herbs with a blender/grinder. Why did we choose the herbs we did? (Disclaimer: this is not intended as medical advice) Each herb serves a purpose for our cooking and health needs: Rosemary - Rosemary is a good source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. We believe this boosts our immune system and improves blood circulation. Even though we limit our carb intake, we do not ever make potatoes without rosemary. Oregano - Who doesn't like an Italian meal? In addition to making even a frozen pizza taste homemade, oregano is said to ease rheumatic pains, toothache, headache, indigestion, coughs and even can prevent seasickness. Good to know when we go on a Lake Erie Walleye trip with 35 mph sideways winds! I digress... Sweet Basil - Oh if I could package sweet basil into a candle! It smells wonderful when you pick it and it leaves an aroma on your hands. Another life hack: buy canned tomato soup and add sweet basil. Throw away the soup cans and let your family think you made soup from scratch. Some say basil eases anxiety and helps with depression. Thyme - known for its ability to help digest fatty foods, Thyme can be used in pasta, soups, and roasted vegetables especially potatoes and beans. Thyme is widely used in mouthwash and decongestants. Its history includes being used as an antiseptic, cough remedy, and digestive aid. Sage - Of course, with a 16 year old named Sage, we couldn't pass up planting Sage. According to the merriam-webster dictionary a sage person is 'one who has or shows sound judgement. Wise suggests a great understanding of people and of situations and unusual discernment and judgment in dealing with them. Wise beyond his tender years sage suggests wide experience, great learning and wisdom'. And that accurately describes our son, Sage! From a food standpoint, Sage pairs well with sausage and other meats. It is used in rice, egg or cheese dishes. Health benefits can include gargling sage tea to sooth a sore throat, repels insects, and is full of antioxidants and nutrients. Some people use it to support oral health, ease menopause, reduce blood sugar levels, lower LDL cholesterol (the bad one), improve memory and brain health, and the best is remedy for diarrhea. Chives - new to this round was chives. We mostly planted chives due to their flavor in dishes. There are some health benefits to chives such as heart and bone health. Chives caused an herb drying flop for us though. Instead of staying green they turned brown. Do you have experience drying chives and know why ours turned brown? Leave us a comment below. I am wondering if we dried them too long. The other herbs took 3+ weeks but maybe the chives did not need that long. We hung a new bunch today to dry and are going to remove them in two weeks to see if that makes a difference. The aroma in the jar is amazing but the sight of brown chives is not appetizing. Open to suggestions! Here is the finished product!! We used small mason jars and they are just so cute! I love them! If you recall our previous post where we stored them whole, we made labels for each jar. These jars are small so we opted for labels on the back with the initial of each herb. I am imagining Bobby and Sage rearranging them to spell things that mom won't approve of... maybe initials were not a good idea.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe will share our experiences and love of the outdoors (and some indoors) with you. Archives
October 2022
Categories |