Preserving: Picking Thyme
As I put my garden to bed for the winter, it was time to trim back and take my last picking of thyme. It's one of my favourite herbs for cooking. It's so versatile in soups, stews and marinades. My thyme plant is about five years old now. One side has died back, but the other still produces tasty leaves. I'm hoping the haircut will stimulate new growth come spring.
I tied the stems into bundles and now they are hanging in my new bathroom to dry.
After a few weeks the leaves will be dry and ready to store. A quick run of my fingers down the stems easily removes the tiny leaves. Here you can see my sage and rosemary ready to be stored. I've saved Crystal Light plastic canisters for bulk storage. And now I have my new pantry to keep them out of the light. I put small amounts into hand painted spice containers to keep next to the stove. -- Margy
Labels:
Gardening,
Preserving
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I love to dry herbs! This year, I dried them in the microwave on 20% power for about 10-15 minutes and it worked beautifully. I will look forward to having them all winter. Thyme and Rosemary are two of my favorites as well...
ReplyDeleteI have never tried to dry the herbs before, but I will now. I do have chillis drying though above the cooker xxx
ReplyDeleteI wish succes in next season,all my best
ReplyDeleteI dried parsley and chervil and sage this year. The climate is so dry here that I was able to dry them on a cookie sheet. It's so great to have jars of these dried herbs in the pantry! I'll be doing more next year! xx
ReplyDeleteDiane - I've never tried using the microwave for drying. Of course, I'd have to haul everything to town to do it. I have used my oven to dry chard and that worked well.
ReplyDeleteFran - I've never tried drying chilies. Does it take a long time?
Marion - I've done the cookie sheet indoors next to the fire for drying. Anything outside is fair game for the mice and other critters. But I guess they have to eat too. Our woodrat does her own harvesting and drying in the sun.
Thanks for the good wishes Ilhami.
Margy