Monday 8 April 2013

WEEKLY TALLY - NUMBER 11 AND DRYING HERBS

The garden is still very quiet as the patch was stripped of it's summer plants and planted out with suitable plants for winter. This week I decided to prune a few of my overgrown herbs such as thyme, sage, marjoram and tarragon and dry them to pass onto friends and use in recipes that call for dried herbs (I never keep any on hand so this is my chance!) I tried to dry them in the oven which was set to 50 degrees celsius  but the smell was overwhelming and made me start to feel sick, so I turned the oven off, opened all the doors bunched them up and decided to let them air dry in the laundry next to last years garlic.

1/4/13 - 7/4/13

29 eggs
67 grams chili
204 grams marjoram
314 grams sage
23 grams thyme
443 grams tarragon

TOTAL 28 EGGS, 1.051 KILOS OF FOOD

Marjoram 
Sage
Taragon 
Thyme
Hanging up to dry next to last years garlic!
This week I am linking up with veggiegobbler for garden gobbles.


14 comments:

  1. Good idea drying your own herbs and growing your own garlic. I've had the same garlic going for 3 seasons now. Its such an easy crop.

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    1. Awesome 3 years growing garlic! I'm hoping the remaining garlic will last until the next lot is ready to harvest in 6 months! I also endeavour to continue to grow my garlic from my harvest! I thought it would be a shame to throw my clippings out when I could dry them and pass them on or use them in another way :D

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  2. Hi Nathalie
    I used a brown paper bag I had gotten from the chemist to hang rosemary by the stems in, it not only dried the leaves, but saved a mess.
    My kitchen faces the west, so I get the afternoon sun for a few hours, and summer is really hot inside(flat roof), to aid drying.
    Rob Gordon

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    1. What a great tip. That was my concern in regards to the mess it would make! We are at the end of summer so the heat isn't there so I am hoping that I will have success. If not I suppose it is just some clippings a time that have gone to waste.

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  3. I think the laundry is the better option - every time I've tried to dry them in the oven I;ve ended up over cooking them and they taste of either nothing or burnt herb.

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    1. Thanks for that tip Liz! I have never dried in oven before and this time I was looking for a quick way out - but I am glad that I stopped the oven drying process and moved them onto the laundry. :D

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  4. I've never actually dried herbs. Although I've recently got a dehydrator and I think it'd be good for drying herbs in. I've got loads of basil in the garden still but I thought I might freeze it.

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    1. My basil unfortunately didn't propagate this year :( I have heard pesto keep great as well if you were looking for an alternative! I love fresh basil and think frozen basil would be so much better than dried!

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  5. I'm just a beginner when it comes to growing herbs.
    I've only tried Rosemary and Sweet Basil.
    Your Sage looks really good!
    Maybe I'll try it this year.
    Happy gardening!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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    1. Hi Lea! I find herbs to be the easiest thing to grow! Mainly because of the strong scents they are a natural bug repellent and not too much will get to them in the garden! Sage is great because all you do is stick it in the ground and voila! So hard to kill! It should last you a lifetime and if you live somewhere it snows (I don't have this problem so this is only a guess) I would plant it in a pot so you can keep it out of the harsh weather. Thanks and you too! :D

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  7. Hi Nat, how has the herb drying been going?
    Did you find out about seed swapping? I may have been wrong about sending seeds within our borders, I recently received seeds from a guy in South oZ who I chat with on chilli community.
    I think its fruit and tuber like seeds that are an issue, also I think how the seeds are packaged could lead to less drama's.

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    1. Hi Rob, the herbs are drying well! They are still hanging in the laundry but are almost ready to be taken off the stem and stored! I have a little I had a lady send me some seeds from WA but they haven't arrived because of quarantine, so I think that WA is out as well as Tassie and possibly QLD. I may wander down to diggers club or the local nursery who stock eden seeds (heirloom) and get some spaghetti squash :D

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  8. Sorry Nat, I forgot to sign the last comment,
    Rob Gordon.

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