How to Dry Herbs Naturally at Home Without Electricity

Parsley

When harvesting things like parsley, their stems are relatively soft. You could use scissors or something like that, but I'm usually able to pinch and snap all the plant's outer leaves. You have to move a little bit so that there's still some left in the heart of the plant to grow.

Parsley is an herb that we use a good bit of in cooking. I like having plenty of it dried because it's fresher than anything you can buy. I will harvest a bunch of the leaves off several of the plants growing right around the house.

If there's one that is a little yellow or just so dirty, I leave them to mulch the top surface of the planter.

Oregano

Some herbs have thicker stems, like oregano. I have several varieties of oregano growing. I'm doing the same thing as with the parsley, clipping the stems close, taking it down to a short bush, but leaving enough growth that if the plant has time to grow this year, it can.

Sometimes oregano lives through the winter. Not every plant makes it for me, but I want to leave enough stem and plant that it has a chance to.

Mint

I have a good bit of mint growing in various varieties. I have peppermint that has been cut quite a few times this year to make fresh and iced tea. It smells so wonderful as you cut this stuff. I also like having a bunch dry to enjoy through the winter once this is not growing out here fresh anymore. 

We've made a lot of fresh teas out of this and will make a lot more through the winter with what I'm cutting right now. 

How to dry herbs

1. Make bunches

What I'm going to do with all these that I picked is to make little bunches. The size of the bunch is not important. You want there to be enough air movement around whatever you've got that it's going to dry before it molds. 

I'm getting the stem ends approximately lined up. 

I'm going to do my rubber band thing, and I've got this lovely little bunch of spearmint. I'm going to do the same thing with oregano.  

I'm just trying to make sure that the ends of my stems are approximately lined up so that the rubber band catches them all and they're not falling out on the floor. I think I can do all of that variety in one bunch. 

When I hang these, I'm going to spread them out a little bit like that so that they are not squished together. 

I want as much air movement as possible to get around all this stuff. 

2. Hang them somewhere dry

Then I'm simply going to hang them in the shop where it stays nice and dry, or up in the attic is the usual plan.

As part of the plan when we originally built our home, we wanted a hot, dry attic with rafters that I could put nails on and hang a whole bunch of stuff like this to dry every year, with no electricity required. Any warm, dry place will work. 

You can do a dry attic in a shop, over a house, or in a garage. I try to do it somewhere out of the sunshine. I think it helps keep the color and, therefore, the nutrients in the herbs a little bit better. 

When I lived in an apartment in town with a friend, and we grew stuff on our little teeny patio, I would hang things to dry in the garage attached to that place. So you really can do this anywhere with anything.

The main goal is not to have all of your stuff fall on the floor or wherever hence use the rubber band so they tighten up as the stems dry and shrink. 

Also, get pretty good air circulation around your bundle so it actually dries rather than molds. If you're in a more humid climate and are concerned about that, just make smaller bunches. They will dry quicker, and you get a feel for this after a bit. 

When you dry herbs often enough, you get a feel for how moist each kind of plant is and how long the stems are, how dense they are. You also get an idea of how much you want to put in a single bunch.

My attic stays hot and dry. It's not insulated up here. 

So I take my bunches of herbs and stick them on a nail, and they will just be up here until they fully dry. 

I'm using my hand to spread the bunch out rather than mash it together. I settle it down over a nail, and they'll be right here drying. 

They're out of any direct sunlight because there are no windows up here in the attic, so they don't get bleached out. 

You can do this in all kinds of places, but if you have any kind of garage, shop, barn, or something with rafters up high, it is an excellent spot for drying things.  

How to dry herbs without electricity

That's how easy it is to dry fresh herbs. Do you grow your own herbs? Share your experiences in the comments below.