Preservation of Herbs

Preserving Herbs

Harvesting herbs, is one step you must take great care. Look around where are they growing?  Not close to roads or train tracks or in drainage ditches, I hope. You never know what might be draining in that ditch upstream. You can forget the farmers field he sprays pesticides on or the roadside where your county sprays for weeds. There is a part of Oklahoma you never want to forage without extreme caution. The Northeastern part of our states waterways in some areas is polluted with  heavy metal contamination from mines.  The Grand Lake o' the Cherokees northern end is very contaminated and Mother Earth cries. From Tar Creek, commercial poultry operations dumping and just plain lack of care, we see areas that are very toxic. Please take a moment to consider what you may be doing to add to this problem with our earth. Tsitalagi have a story that foretells the time when animals will die out and a great darkness befalls Mother Earth.  We are well on our way to fulfilling this story if we do not act on a individual and group basis.  Please practice ethical wildcrafting. Wado

  The Promise by Michelle Mays(www.MichelleMays.com). Promise

The shelf life of herbs is dependent on storage. I keep mine for 1 year in most cases and some up to 2 years. When using dried herbs I will wait
to crush them for tea when I am making the tea.  Storing your herbs properly will add to the shelf life.  They need to be kept in an air tight container that is preferably dark in color.  Some people use vaccume sealers.  The one I have found works so good and the price is right.  It works just as good as some of those high price sealers.  When you run out of the little sealer tabs, I have found that electrical tape cut in strips works great and is a cost savings.  Here is a link for the pump and seal.  With this sealer you can increase your storage time up to double the shelf life. Herbs need to be harvested when oils are at their peak.  Each herb has it's own time when it is best.

Bag and Net Drying

Preparing the plants for drying , I always bring them in and rinse them with cold water. I put them on paper towels to soak up the excess water and let them air dry.  Once they are dry I then take the plant by the bottom leaving about 3 to four inches of stem and tie them with cotton string.  When I get to this point I will either use brown paper bags or netting.  Cheese cloth works good, however alway thinking of low cost methods, lol, I will use the old sheer curtains I sometimes find at garage sales or thrift stores. I bring them home and wash them and then just cut to size.  You will find most herbs will dry in one or two weeks depending on the Humidity.

Tray Drying

The method for tray drying is the same but the herbs are laid it trays and left until dry.  You need a dark place with low humidity for this and must turn them each day.  I do not use this method as you are unable to insure that nothing has fallen on the herbs while drying.

Microwave Drying

You can put your herbs between paper towels and time it for one or two minutes.  Some use this method, however I feel it cooks the herbs and releases beneficial oils. I do this some times when I want a quick cup of mint tea, just for the flavor.

Freezing 

I only use this method for broomweed and do not blanch it before freezing.  It is the blanching of the herbs I feel take out medicinal properties. If you choose to do this clean the herbs and blanch, remove to a ice water bath , drain and then freeze.